Emergence of Talent I: Rise of the Namikaze
by James D. Wolfe
Summary: A once mighty clan, the Namikaze were thought to have died out. A cursed orphan, Naruto is hated for what he contains. When given a chance, his talent shines through and Naruto will claim the mantle his ancestors left him. The Namikaze will rise again.
1. Prelude Part One

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Prelude: Part One  
**_A Hard Decision_

* * *

The ninja of Konohagakure no Sato were rumoured to be the strongest of all the Hidden Villages. They had been the first to establish a Hidden Village, and had continually emerged as the victors in all the wars they had participated in. However, the strength of all the mightiest mortals in the world were nothing compared to a demon, especially the strongest of the Bijuu, the infamous Tailed Beasts; the Kyuubi no Yoko.

However, the brave ninja of Konoha raged against the demon fox with all their might. The surrounding area had been levelled of any sign of natural life, aside from those ninja who still stood. Lifeless bodies littered the once great forest's floor, a majority not even whole, having been clawed, stomped on or crushed by the giant fox. The most gruesome sights were the mangled bodies of those the Kyuubi decided to dine upon.

"Hold it back! We need to hold it, until Yondaime-sama arrives!" The frantic cry of an ANBU called, clearly wounded, as he prepared to release a spray of flames at the beast.

A Konoha Jounin panted as he let the chakra in his attack dissipate, "We cannot let it reach Konoha! If that happens, we are all doomed!"

Several more minutes passed, as the Kyuubi took to ravaging on more of the shinobi. The injured ANBU was swept up in one of its massive nine tails, before being thrown into the beast's open mouth. A resounding boom filled the area as a dark shadow flew over head, before landing directly across from the Kyuubi. The moonlight passed over the shadow, revealing a toad of giant proportions and a blond haired shinobi standing atop it.

The ninja wasted no time, his hands moving into the necessary handseals for his final technique. A low rumbling came from the Kyuubi, somewhat reminiscent of a chuckle, before it raised its paw and slashed at the toad, cutting across its left eye. The ninja finished his handseals, and looked down as tears slid down his face. "Sumimasen, Naruto-kun."

A bright, bluish-white light encompassed the area, leaving the surviving ninja temporarily blinded. It resonated once, before it fell away, revealing a barren field, lacking the giant toad from before, and more importantly, lacking the Kyuubi no Yoko. A white haired figure darted across the field, appearing in time to catch the falling form of the blond shinobi.

"You did well, kid. Rest now, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha."

* * *

**Three Weeks Later**

* * *

A tiny, blond haired baby lay in his crib, unaware of the danger he was about to face. On each of his cheeks, three long whisker-like birthmarks stretched out, and a dark black seal was visible on his exposed belly in the moonlight that managed to break through the blinds covering the window.

A ninja appeared from the shadows, his chest covered by nothing but the green flak jacket awarded to Chunnin of Konoha, and a hitai-ate tied around his left bicep, bearing the leaf insignia of Konoha. A malicious smirk was stretched across his face as he walked toward the crib, a piece of paper dangling from between his fingers.

"This is for my brother, you demon scum." The ninja slapped the piece of paper onto the baby's forehead, his smirk growing wider as the kanji that covered the strip of paper began to glow. He began to turn away when he noticed something that shouldn't be happening. The paper was beginning to fold in on itself, and the glow of the kanji was rapidly diminishing. The once explosive seal glowed a deep red before it finally imploded, leaving the baby unharmed.

"Naruto-kun!"

The ninja swore and immediately began his attempt at escape, a cloud of white smoke covering his disappearance. Not a second later, the robe clad figure of Sarutobi Hiruzen burst through the door, a pair of ANBU at his side.

"Do a sweep of the vicinity, and find whoever was in this room! When they are apprehended, they are to be given to Ibiki's young protégé, Anko."

The two ANBU nodded and seemed to melt into the floor, leaving the Hokage alone in the room with Naruto. He walked over to the crib and glanced down into it, watching as Naruto slept on, ignorant of what could have just happened.

"What am I going to do with you, Naruto-kun?"

* * *

**Three Years Later**

* * *

Naruto, now three years of age, skipped across the hardwood floors of the Hokage's office as he looked for his favourite old man. His tummy rumbled as he finally got around to the other side of the large desk and he took a handful of the Hokage's white robes, yanking as hard as he good with a toothy grin plastered over his face.

"Jii-chan! Can we go get ramen?"

Sarutobi smiled warmly down at the lad, his eyes crinkling as they almost closed. Bending down, he hefted Naruto up onto his lap with a grunt. "Yare, yare, Naruto. You are getting big. Maybe you've been eating too much ramen, hmmm?" He poked the boy's stomach, eliciting a giggle from the blond.

The young child shook his head in earnest as his giggles died down, his former grin settling into a cute pout, "Ramen is the best! No other food can beat it!"

Sarutobi let out an amused sigh and shook his head. He was just like his mother with his stubborn attitude and obsession with ramen. Hopefully he could break the addiction, just as he had with Kushina. Standing, he moved Naruto over his head and onto his shoulders, chuckling as Naruto grabbed the Hokage hat and threw it on his head. The hat slid down until it covered his eyes completely, and the little boy was forced to tilt it up, a sheepish grin across his features.

With a minor amount of concentration, Sarutobi shunshin'ed out of the office, Naruto letting out a cry of joy at the incredible speed. The duo appeared in the street just outside of the famous Ichiraku Ramen Bar, and Sarutobi smiled to Teuchi as he entered.

"Okay Naruto, miso again?"

The little boy bopped his head up and down, causing the hat to flop around wildly before covering his eyes again. Teuchi laughed loudly, before turning to his pots and preparing the ramen. Sarutobi sat down, and moved Naruto onto a stool of his own, before he started to contemplate if _he _received his missive.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

* * *

In the dank, half lit room, two shadowy figures could be made out in the flickering light produced by the torches. Water could be heard dripping somewhere nearby, and if one were to breathe through their nose, they would be hit with the foul scent of a sewer.

"You have your orders. Kill the demon bearer the first chance you have. Now go."

"Hai, Danzo-sama!"

With that, the second of the two figures disappeared in naught but a flicker of light, leaving the first alone. The fires raged for a moment, revealed the disfigured form of Danzo, the leader of Root and the Hokage's number one nemesis. Soon, Sarutobi would be too busy grieving to be the Hokage. Danzo would call a vote of no confidence, and then, he would be the Hokage.

* * *

**Sarutobi Manor**

* * *

Naruto sat atop his bed, a scroll on chakra unravelled across his lap. It had been a surprise to everyone when Naruto, a three year old child, began to read and even understand the scrolls in the manor's library. He was without a doubt a genius.

Sarutobi had left Naruto in the manor, going back to finish off his last stack of paperwork for the day. Unknown to him, he had left Naruto in a most dangerous situation. A figured warped out of the shadows of the corner of Naruto's room before dashing forward, kunai glistening in the fading rays of sunlight.

Just as the black clad shinobi reached his target, he frowned as he lunged forward, not realizing where the feeling of unease was coming from until his kunai pass through the boy in front of him. _'Genjutsu!?'_

The shinobi turned slightly, only to see a pissed of Hokage standing in the doorway, his left hand held in a half ram seal while his right was resting on Naruto's shoulder. The smirk that crossed the old man's face made the shinobi shiver, and in seconds he was bound and shipped off to Ibiki. The screams would only be remembered in the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Department for many nights to come. Got to love silencing seals.

* * *

**Hokage's Office**

* * *

Sarutobi pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a long draw on his pipe before letting loose a billow of smoke. Smoking always helped him to relax. "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto... What am I going to do with you?"

"Well... there is always the option of sending him with me."

Sarutobi grinned as he recognized the voice. "I see you got my message. It's been a while, Takezo Kenji." He turned slowly to see the visage of a tall, middle aged brunette with a lopsided grin splayed across his tanned face, sitting in the windowsill.

"Indeed it has old man." Kenji dropped from the windowsill, landing in a half crouch before standing to his full 6'2". "So, where is he?"

Sarutobi nodded and turned in his chair once more. "Naruto-kun, there is someone here I would like you to meet. He is an old friend of mine."

Naruto nodded before he hopped off his chair, leaving his scroll on chakra behind, and shuffled his way over to the two men. He glanced towards the first one, who was leaning against the windowsill, and frowned when he didn't recognize the man. Naruto knew most of the ANBU that came into the Hokage's office regularly, so this guy wasn't part of ANBU. Craning his neck, he looked across towards the Hokage.

Hiruzen chuckled at the look on his ward's face. "This, Naruto, is Takezo Kenji, one of the finest ninja to come out of Konoha. He used to be teammates with the Yondaime. He will be your new sensei for a while."

Naruto turned around again, and Kenji grinned down at the little blond. "Don't worry, brat. I won't rough you up... too much at least."

Naruto pouted and folded his arms over his chest. "I am no brat. For your information, I am three and a half."

Kenji laughed and waved his hand in front of his face, "My apologies. Three and a half. That certainly isn't brat material at all." Sarutobi laughed as Naruto's pout got even deeper. "Oi, old man, I want to take him to my farm. I can teach him far easier out there, and he will be away from the less... desirable parts of Konoha."

The Hokage's grin quickly morphed into a frown. He had been hoping on Kenji moving back to Konoha for a while to look after Naruto. Letting out a sigh, he realized that he shouldn't have hoped for so much. With a simple nod, the Hokage gave his assent to the shinobi turned farmer's request.

Naruto jumped up onto the Hokage's lap with a surprising nimbleness, at least to Kenji, and looked straight into the old eyes of Sarutobi. "Am I leaving?" The Hokage nodded once again, and felt Naruto's little arms wrap around his neck. "Okay, Jii-chan. I'll miss you."

The Hokage could hear the unshed tears in the boy's voice, and hugged him tightly. "I'll miss you too, Naruto-kun." Kenji cleared his throat, and the Hokage couldn't help but sigh for what he felt was the hundredth time that night. "It's time to go, Naruto."


	2. Prelude Part Two

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Prelude: Part Two  
**_The Road Starts Here_

* * *

The harsh, midday sun beat down onto the fields surrounding the Takezo household. Naruto had long since taken off his shirt, and tied it around his head to stop the sweat falling into his eyes. He had been working since dawn, and had since given up on finishing all of his chores before lunch. Apparently this was all for 'endurance' training.

"Tch, yeah right. Kenji-tou-san just wants to get out of doing his own chores. Again," Naruto grumbled under his breath as he brought his hoe down into the soil.

"Talking to yourself again, Naruto?"

Naruto smirked and swung around, lashing out with the farming tool, and narrowly missed the side of a boy his age. The boy mimicked Naruto's expression and spun his own hoe around, before moving to attack Naruto. The blond caught the makeshift staff with his own before he pushed as hard as he could, knocking the other child off balance.

Following up, Naruto threw a roundhouse kick towards the boy's head. The brunette ducked under the kick, and swung his hoe out at Naruto's foot remaining on the ground. Naruto used Kenji's favourite curse as he hopped, moving out of the hoe's path.

Naruto spiralled in the air, landing in crouch about a meter away from the child. They both grinned before lunging at each other, only to be stopped by an amused looking Kenji. "That's enough of that, Miyamoto, Naruto. Your mother will kill me if you don't get inside and get washed up right now. Lunch is about to be served."

Naruto grinned and nodded to Kenji, whilst Miyamoto merely smiled. He wasn't as big on stuffing himself 'till he exploded like Naruto was. Kenji's face had a faraway look for a moment before he focussed in on his son and his ward. "Tell you what. After lunch, we can put together a training regime. You will both start your ninja training tomorrow."

Naruto whooped for joy. He had been living with the Takezo family for three years, and only six months ago had he been deemed old enough to start the physical work on the farm. Now, he was finally going to begin his training. With his current knowledge of chakra, and the fact he had developed a photographic memory, the six and a half year old was already at an advantage over his 'brother', Miyamoto.

The boys took off at a sprint, racing towards the house. Miyamoto pulled ahead for a second before Naruto's animal like agility kicked in and the blond jumped onto the brunette's back, using it as a springboard to win the race. Kenji followed at a more sedate pace, laughing all the way.

* * *

Kenji leant against a support beam in the barn, his arms folded across his chest while his two new students sat on hay bales in front of him. "Right, well then, let me begin by saying from this point on, whenever we are training, I am not your father. I am your sensei, and I will push you to and beyond your limits." Receiving nods from both boys, he continued. "Now, what I am going to teach you will encompass several aspects of the old Ninja Juhakkei. These, before the times of chakra, were essential to the life of a ninja. However, with the discovery of chakra, and with it ninjutsu and genjutsu, it has become mostly obsolete. My family has long practiced certain aspects of the Juhakkei, and so will you.

"The first, and most important, is spiritual refinement. This translates to honing your chakra control, and developing your chakra reserves. This is vital to your career as a shinobi.

"Next up is Taijutsu, the art of physical combat. This encompasses both martial arts and minor weapons. After that is disguise and impersonation, which isn't as vital to ninja these days as it was when ninja came first came into existence, so we no longer practice it.

"Now then, this one is very important as well, Shinobi-iri, which are your methods of stealth. This is a fundamental aspect of being a shinobi. We hide in the shadows, and strike when the opportune moment arrives. However, this is more focussed on the generic ninja, the background workers, as the 'Elite' of each village are to be seen, and are what attracts clients to a village.

"Following is tactics, which you better learn and learn well if you want to survive, along with Tenmon, which is geographical knowledge, or meteorology. There are many other aspects, which you will likely focus on later, depending on what career path you follow.

"Now then, let's start with chakra control training."

* * *

**A Year and Six Months Pass**

* * *

Naruto grunted as he felt the strain on his upper arms, before he was forced to lower his face to the barn floor by the foot on his back. The pressure was relieved and Naruto pushed up, before being pushing back down again. Sweat trickled down his face, pooling on the tip of his nose before it fell to the ground.

"148... 149... 150! Good work. Now, 50 vertical push ups and then 20 sets of high kicks... go!"

The blond whimpered but did as he was instructed, kicking his legs off the ground and into the air, keeping his body completely straight, before he began his push ups. As he fell into the mundane routine, he started to think about his past thirty months on the farm.

Kenji had worked purely on chakra control and stamina for the first three weeks, and in that time had managed to get both boys to Genin level control through his rather... harsh training methods. He had to force back a shudder when he recalled the kunai launcher incident. After that they had worked on a combination of Taijutsu, muscle development and a little more chakra control for near two months. It seemed Kenji's plan was to raise his students' abilities in certain areas to a certain rank, before he rotated to the next set of skills.

The weapons training had been interesting and Kenji had copped more than one beating via Haruhi, his wife, when she saw her boys all cut up and bruised. After Kenji caught the boys snickering after one such beating, he 'sparred' them one on one, severely beating them into the ground. The next couple of months were spent in the forests near the Takezo property, where Kenji taught the boys necessary survival skills like foraging, hunting, how to set up a shinobi camp. There was a lot of father-son bonding during those months, along with a hell of a lot more Taijutsu training for the boys after Kenji failed in his attempt at fishing.

After that, the trio spent most of their time playing strategy games like Shogi and Go, and Naruto shocked everyone at how good he was. Between games, they would refine their chakra control, and practice the few jutsu they had been shown, which included the three standard academy jutsu that Konoha taught to its students. When they finally finished with that, they essentially repeated the process, being taught more jutsu the second time around and getting better overall as potential ninja.

"Phew!" Naruto grinned as he finished his exercise, and came out of his musings. He snatched his towel from a nearby hay bale and wiped the sweat from his face, before turning to Kenji.

"Naruto, you know that Miyamoto left a month ago to train with some old friends of mine. I think it's about time you decided on which weapon you are going to use. You know our family traditions."

Naruto groaned and scratched the back of his neck. Damn right he knew Miyamoto had left. It left Naruto alone with Kenji's occasionally psychotic training methods. His brunette brother in all but blood had left with a bunch of travelling warrior monks on pilgrimage that Kenji had befriended several years ago. Miyamoto had been enthralled by their display of skill with their staves and immediately decided to use that as his weapon.

The blond nine year old walked out into the midday sun, enjoying the heat it brought to his naked chest. "I'll use a sword, old man."

Kenji nodded. "Good to know someone will be carrying on the legacy."

"Huh?"

* * *

Kenji led Naruto into a dark room situated underneath the main house, lit by only a few torches and candles. Off to the left side was a desk with scrolls piled onto it, some had fallen off onto the floor next to it. To the right was a set of what looked like a cross between samurai armour and old style shinobi gear. However, what really caught Naruto's attention was the redwood stand in the centre of the room. Sitting atop it was a katana; the sheath alone was breathtaking and almost looked alive. Seemingly random splotches of jade, crimson and golden yellow were woven together in a way that resembled a bird in flight. When the candlelight flickered, the pattern looked like the bird was actually moving up and down it.

The tsuba was golden in colour, and if Naruto was right it was solid gold. It was fashioned in the shape of a Heron, with the wings coming up to meet the head. The hilt was fit with a forest green coloured wrapping and had ruby diamonds running down each side of it.

"This, Naruto, is my study. You see, when I was an active ninja, I used a sword just like you want to. I even earned a moniker during the war. Konoha no Hisui Hitokiri, Konoha's Jade Manslayer."

Naruto was in awe. His sensei, adoptive father, was a war hero? Well, if he really thought about it, it wasn't that much of a shock. Sarutobi had said that Kenji was one of the best ninjas ever to come from Konoha.

"And now, you will train to become a blade wielding shinobi."

* * *

Naruto was already starting to regret choosing a sword as his weapon of choice. It meant he had to learn how to wield a katana properly, develop the necessary strength and flexibility to use one, and had to learn a new Taijutsu style to compliment his Kenjutsu style.

"Okay, I want 50 vertical slashes, followed by the same amount of horizontal slashes. And then 50 in either direction diagonally."

He nodded, positioning the sword and his hands as Kenji had shown him earlier. Bringing the sword up above his head, Naruto chopped down with a harsh bark. Moving the sword back into position, he repeated the process. As he felt his arms strain, he could already tell that the next few years were going to be long ones.


	3. Prelude Part Three

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Prelude: Part Three  
**_Moonlit Wanderings_

* * *

The early morning air carried the scent of the forest through the small fields. The grass crunched under foot, as it should with the first frost of the snow. The morning birds sang brightly, but softly, as if careful not to disturb the still sleeping wildlife.

_CLANG!_

Steel met steel, sending sparks flying, before the two figures jumped away from one another. The smaller of the figures launched forward again as soon as he landed, sending dew flying into the air. The swords collided again, sparks lighting up between the two blades, before they once more separated.

The first figure, the short one, had blond hair that was normally spiky, but without something to support it, it had fallen slightly to cover his forehead and eyes in the current atmosphere. Covering his upper body was a blue turtle neck tank top, which had mesh armour woven between the two layers of cloth. He also wore black, baggy pants which were held up by a simple grey belt. Strapped over his shoulder was a simple katana sheath, which normally housed the sword that was currently in his hands.

The second figure had brown hair that fell messily around his face and down to his neck. He wore nothing but a simple pair of baggy farming pants, which were tied up at the bottom to keep from flapping about too much, and a v-neck shirt. Resting in his right hand was a beautiful katana, the blade shining in the morning sunlight, and in his left he held its sheath, the forest green with a heron like creature woven into it.

The blond exhaled, watching as his smoke-like breathe became visible in the cool air. "Kenji-sensei, when were you leaving again?"

Kenji spun his katana a few times before sliding the blade into its sheath. "A few hours at most, I need to check on Miyamoto's progress. Why?"

Naruto sighed and swung his katana to the side with a grunt, sending the dew that had gathered on it flying. "Just wondering... Do I keep training like I have while you're gone, or what?" He sheathed the blade, satisfied when he heard the 'click' of it snapping into place.

His mentor grinned as he walked over to Naruto, clapping his free hand onto the boy's shoulder. "You, my boy, will be getting instruction from an old acquaintance of mine. He owes me a favour or four, so I'm calling one in while I'm gone for the next few months."

Cerulean eyes locked with dark green ones as Naruto's face contorted in confusion. "Who...? Oh, don't tell me it's the Ino-Shika-Cho trio again. I don't think my body can withstand that kind of beating."

Kenji's chest rumbled as he laughed. He remembered that fortnight. The trio had stopped by when Inoichi had been injured on a mission, seeking help from his wife Haruhi. Whilst they waited for the blond man to completely heal, Shikaku and Choza had saw fit to give Naruto some extra training. He had never seen the little boy run so fast in his life. Then again, even Kenji was afraid of Choza's _Nikudan Sensha_.

"No, it won't be those three. This guy is a former Kirigakure shinobi, and one hell of a swordsman. However, he won't get here for another day or so. During that time, I want you to work on this jutsu. I know you still have problems with the normal _Bunshin_, even though your control has gotten better."

Kenji reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick scroll. Throwing it over to his student, he smiled when he saw Naruto's eyes light up. _Kage Bunshin _was a Konoha technique, and most likely one of the most versatile of the _Bunshin _line of Ninjutsu.

Naruto waited for Kenji to leave the clearing before he immediately snapped open the scroll and began to read.

'_Similar to the standard Bunshin Jutsu, Kage Bunshin creates copies of the user. However, these copies are not mere illusions; they are physical clones that can interact with the world. __The user's chakra is evenly distributed amongst all the clones, giving each clone an equal fraction of the user's overall power. The shadow clones are capable of using jutsu on their own, and can even bleed. However, they will disperse after a few solid hits. The clones are also capable of dispersing themselves. Any experience the clones gain during their existence is transferred to the user once they are dispersed. Any extra chakra the clone has when it disperses is also returned to the original._

_The hand seals are, officially, Hitsuji, Hebi, and a modified Tora seal. You just adjust your hands to form a cross. Honestly, most people just shorten it to the modified Tora._

_P.S: This jutsu is great for training._

_P.P.S: Good luck Naruto._

_Kenji.'_

Naruto grinned widely; he could tell that the first paragraph must have been written by someone like the Sandaime. There was no way Kenji was that good at writing. All the same, his new jutsu was awesome. Tucking the scroll into his pocket, he carefully made the hand seals, checking that the modified Tora was right, before he focused his chakra. To his surprise, a loud bang sounded through the clearing, accompanied by a cloud of white smoke and an identical doppelganger.

Naruto leaned forward, the Kage Naruto mimicking his actions. Holding out his hand, the Kage Naruto followed the action and pressed his hand to his masters. When the original felt the actual contact, he grinned and started his little victory dance. To his further amusement, so did his clone.

"Right! Let's test this thing out." Naruto punched the clone in the shoulder, which only knocked it back a bit, before he followed up with a roundhouse kick to the clone's head. The clone dissipated on impact, and Naruto grinned. Repeated the cross shaped Tora seal, he called up another three clones and sent them off into the forest.

"Play a game of Jon Ken Pon, and then dismiss yourself."

Naruto waited while his clones disappeared into the trees. After a few minutes of waiting, he discovered that not only had the clones gone into the woods and... he won and lost? Okay, that was confusing, but one had also done a Transformation jutsu.

"... This is going to be so awesome."

And so Naruto made what was fast becoming his favourite hand seal.

* * *

Haruhi was by no means a fussy woman. She was rather laidback, but still made sure her children, including her husband, were always looked after. So when Naruto didn't turn up for lunch or dinner, she started to get worried and went to look for him.

The cheerful woman had spent most of her adult life in various small clinics until she had married, and even then she still spent a lot of time in the Konoha Hospital, leaning some very basic medical ninjutsu and helping where she could. So naturally, she was a skilled healer and had a fair bit of experience when it came to odd wounds. However, when she finally found her adopted son beaten, bruised and cut up, she wasn't exactly sure what to do. It wasn't the fact he had wounds, he got them all the time when he was training, but it was the fact that they were healing at such a rapid rate.

Normally, bruises like that would take at least a day or two to heal, but what few she could see where disappearing before her eyes, and the cuts that littered his arms, hand and face were already healing. Not scabbing over like a normal wound, but the skin looked to be regrowing itself in perfect form.

The last time she had come across healing of a similar rate was a young woman with an incredible Kekkai Genkai that accelerated the healing process. Naruto groaned, and Haruhi's brown eyes shifted from the cuts and bruises on the blond's arm to his face, where his eyelids were flickering.

"Naruto-kun, wake up. Yare, yare..."

Naruto yawned widely, and Haruhi couldn't help but be drawn to the fang-like canine teeth that Naruto had. Honestly, when he was younger he looked a lot like a vampire because those teeth grew so quickly.

Naruto blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes before he really took notice of the black haired woman standing over him. "Eh? Haruhi-kaa-chan? What time is it?"

The woman sighed and pulled Naruto up by the shoulders. "Time for you to go and get cleaned up for dinner, young man."

Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, "Hai, hai." The blond took off towards the house, rolling his shoulders as he went and grinned when a satisfying 'pop' resounded through the clearing.

Haruhi, however, was frowning in thought. She really needed to talk to Kenji.

* * *

The moment Naruto finished dinner, which helped to restore his dwindling chakra reserves from the day's training; he had gone back to his clearing in the forest. Quickly formed the cross shaped Tora hand seal, Naruto summoned up a group of 50 clones.

"Yosh, I want fifteen of you to go back to the house and read the scrolls in my room and the ones that Kenji-sensei prepared in advance. Okay, I want the next fifteen to work on chakra control, tree walking. I want the next ten to go and work on that _Shunshin _jutsu I read about yesterday, and the last ten will work on mastering that _Futon: Daitoppa _that sensei taught me a month ago. Go!"

The clones immediately split, kicking up a great deal of wind and leaves. Naruto grinned and made the cross shaped hand seal again, but this time poured at least half of what chakra he had left into a single clone.

"You and I are sparring on the lake."

Naruto and his doppelganger started towards the lake at full speed, each drawing their katana as they moved. Naruto's foot touched down onto the lake's surface, and he subconsciously started to pass chakra through his feet to keep atop the water. Spinning on the ball of his foot, Naruto immediately launched into a swift assault on his clone.

Time after time, the clone blocked all of Naruto's attacked with its own sword, before launching into a counter-offensive. Naruto swore and slipped under the first swing, a wide cut that probably had enough power to cleave a man's head from his shoulders, and slammed his foot into the clone's solar plexus.

Naruto grinned when he saw the clone double over and spit up bile whilst he hovered in the air from the force of the blow. Naruto loved these clones; they were far more resilient than the ones he normally created and much better for sparring with.

Pivoting, Naruto swung his other foot into a makeshift roundhouse kick and kicked the clone in the skull, sending it flying off towards the bank.

* * *

Naruto sucked in a deep breath, taking in the smells of the night. It was probably past midnight by now, but Naruto enjoyed this time of day more than any, especially in the early times of winter. The sounds of the nocturnal critters running about in the woods, the earthly scent that the wind carried from the forests surrounding the farm, the feeling of the soft breeze running over him as if in an attempt to keep him company. He loved all of it.

His eyes were half-lidded at the moment, his relaxed state allowing him to take in his surroundings without his danger instincts running them. He saw a flash of white hop through his clearing, and smiled when he recognized it was a rabbit. The rabbit stopped and looked at him for a minute, where Naruto smiled even wider, before it started to hop away again. Before the rabbit could reach the edge of the clearing a bluish blur shot across and snatched up the snow white critter.

"Usagi-chan, how many times have I told you not to run away?" the figure questioned the rabbit.

Naruto chuckled a little and opened his eyes completely, not leaving his Indian-style posture. "I'm sure he just wanted to enjoy the forest. It is a beautiful night after all."

The figure snapped around, the moonlight revealing her face and Naruto inhaled sharply. Naruto was only ten and a half years old, but he could still appreciate beauty when he saw it. The girl had brown hair that fell down her back, and chocolate brown eyes that seemed to shine in the moonlight. Naruto couldn't but blush, and a goofy looking grin spread across his face.

"I agree," the girl began, "but that doesn't mean Usagi-chan should just run off without me. He might get lost or hurt."

Naruto nodded in agreement and the girl giggled. She made her way over to the blond, and sat down across from him, Usagi-chan struggling for freedom in her lap.

"So, who are you and what are you doing out in the forest this late at night? Aside from rescuing Usagi-chan of course." Naruto asked.

"My name is Haku," the girl answered, "and I am staying at a farm nearby for few months. How about you?"

Naruto's grin lowered slightly. She was staying at the farm? "I'm Naruto... and I _live _on the farm. I didn't know we were having guests."

Haku just shrugged. "Zabuza-sama only told me we would be staying at a friend of his for a month or more."

Naruto shrugged as well and stood up, brushing off his pants and holding out a hand for the obviously older girl to take. "I was going to go for walk before I headed in. You wanna come with?"

Haku took Naruto's calloused hand and pulled herself up to her feet with a huff. She had just sat down too. "Sure, why not."

The pair made their way into the forest, Naruto's katana out and hanging loosely in his grip just in case one of the wolves that stalked the forest got frisky. The pair talked about stuffs in general, mostly their training as a ninja and Haku's experiences travelling with her mentor and makeshift father Zabuza. When she mentioned he was a Kirigakure missing ninja, Naruto grinned and realized he must be the sensei that Kenji had set up.

"So, you've been around pretty much the entire Elemental Nations with Zabuza? That sounds pretty awesome."

"I guess," Haku sighed, "But I'd really like to be able to just settle down in one place for a while. I've never really had a chance to make any friends with the constant travel and running from the hunter-nin."

Naruto glanced across to Haku and put on a big grin. "Hey, you're here for at least a month right. We can be friends! And I bet Haruhi-kaa-chan will love having another girl around the house for once."

Haku smiled softly at Naruto, and looked rather serene despite the fiercely struggling rabbit in her arms. "I would like that, Naruto-kun."


	4. Prelude Part Four

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Prelude: Finale  
**_Destiny Waits For No Man_

* * *

Naruto was lying atop the barn roof, staring blankly into the afternoon sky as he reminisced on the past six months of his life. He had met a wonderful girl, Haku, who was a few years older than him and a hell of a kunoichi. The couple had grown close over the months, and Naruto admitted he had a crush on her, much to his adoptive father's amusement. With the meeting of Haku, had come the meeting with his Kenjutsu instructor, Momichi Zabuza.

The first month had been hell; Naruto had found Zabuza to be condescending, arrogant and a downright harsh taskmaster. When they had first met, Zabuza just snorted and outright refused to train Naruto until the blond could land a hit on the former Kirigakure ninja. Naruto, taking up the challenge, had been beaten into the ground rather soundly time and again, and although he didn't realize it at first, every time he failed but still got back up, he learnt something new. The subtle ways Zabuza manipulated his blade, and the precise movements that wasted no energy, Naruto naturally grasped and in turn used. Zabuza admitted that he had never seen someone with so much raw potential before meeting Naruto.

After that first month, where Naruto had managed to hit Zabuza at the end, the true training began. Zabuza's attitude changed little during training times, but he was like an annoying older brother or young uncle whenever they weren't. Naruto had gone from learning with a katana, to a broadsword, and then a ninjato, learning how to wield all of them effectively. And while Naruto loved to learn, his favourite times were the breaks between training sessions when he would go off into the woods with Haku for hours at a time.

Kenji had returned about three months after going to check up on his son, Miyamoto, and had taken a backseat in Naruto's training so he could attend to his farm. He still carried on teaching his adopted child the basics that they had began with, but the advanced aspects of Naruto's training fell to Zabuza. Naruto had gone on several trips with both of the older men, them claiming that 'the sharpest of swords is useless in the hands of an inexperienced wielder.' Basically meaning he needed more life experience before he dedicated his entire life to being a ninja of Konoha.

Naruto was drawn from his reminiscing when he felt more than saw Haku sit down beside him on the roof. She was the reason he was up here in the first place. Haku and Zabuza would be leaving tomorrow, and he really didn't want them to leave. He treasured them too much to want to let them go.

"Naruto..." Haku started, not quite sure what to say.

Said blond remained silent, watching a cloud float by that looked a hell of a lot like Zabuza's sword, _Kubikiri Houcho._ The cloud had an odd orange glow, courtesy of the sun that was finally starting to fall over the horizon. Naruto lifted his arm and shifted his fingers so it looked like he was holding the giant sword-cloud.

"Naruto, please don't ignore me. You know our reasons for leaving; we can't stay in one place too long. In fact, I'm surprised Zabuza-sama let us stay _this _long." Haku pleaded. She really didn't want to leave on bad terms with her only friend.

Naruto frowned and balled his hand into a fist, in an attempt to destroy the cloud. "I've heard that a thousand times already, Haku-chan. But it doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You're not the only one..." muttered the brunette, sliding down the roof so she was lying down beside Naruto.

The pair stayed there until the sky was fading into the red-purplish-blue of twilight, just talking about anything that came to mind. Naruto was the first to stand up, a heavy sigh escaping his lips as he stared out at the horizon.

"Wanna know something? Aside from my family, you are the first friend I've ever had," Naruto said. "Kenji and Haruhi gave me plenty of chances to turn away from being a ninja, and just lead a normal life. But I wanted so much to make Kenji proud, ya know? So I dedicated my entire life to becoming a ninja, ever since I could read. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had chosen to be a normal kid..."

Naruto stared at the sun a few more moments before throwing his hands up, "Bah! I sound like an old man. I need to stop playing shogi with the old men in the village." Naruto grinned at Haku and help her up. "Ya know I'm going to miss having you here."

Haku smiled sadly before her arms snaked around Naruto's neck and she nuzzled into his shoulder. "I'm going to miss you too, Naruto-kun. But we'll see each other again, I know that much."

He couldn't help but sigh again. He wasn't so sure. She would be travelling again with Zabuza soon, and Naruto would be leaving for Konoha sometime next year before his birthday. Sucking in a deep breath, Naruto noted the scent in her hair, some kind of lily. He was so distracted that he barely noticed the way the final rays of the sun formed around the pair, almost like a red string around them.

* * *

Kenji watched his adopted son from the kitchen window as he went through his morning chores by himself. Normally the child would make a few of his shadow clones to help him, but this morning something was definitely hampering the young blond's normally cheerful demeanour. The 38 year old man ran long, calloused fingers through his shaggy brown hair. His fatherhood instincts seemed to be severely lacking, because he had no idea how to help Naruto.

He had realized long ago that Naruto had a crush on Haku, and knew that when she left it would hurt him, but he also knew there was no way to avoid it. For many, the life of a ninja was a lonely one. It was filled with courage, daring and honour, but it left the shinobi friendless in most cases, aside from their family and team.

Turning his gaze back to the hallway, he pictured the image of his wife, Haruhi, sound asleep in their bed. He was one of the lucky ones that managed to quit the life before it ruined his chance at love. Shaking the image from his mind, he started towards the door when he caught sight of the calendar. Today was October the first. In nine days, Naruto would turn 11 and he would finally learn about the Kyuubi.

He let his fingers trail along the rail as he took the few steps down the porch and looked across to Naruto, currently tending to the pigs. "Oi, Naruto! Come on, it's time for breakfast!"

* * *

Naruto watched from the top of the barn as Zabuza and Haku started on their way to their next destination, which would be god knows where. He rubbed softly at his watery eyes before turning away and jumping off the roof, landing in a crouch. He hadn't seen his brother in a long time, and now his only other friend was leaving as well. It was going to be back to the same boring old routine now.

Naruto disappeared into the barn and grabbed one of the many _bokken_, wooden practice swords, he had crafted in his spare time. Twirling it a few times to check the balance, he made his way back outside and over to a lone stump of what was once a thick tree. Taking the wooden sword in both hands, he started whacking away at the stump in an attempt to vent his frustration.

Before he could even really start to beat on the defenceless stump, he heard a soft whistling that sounded something similar to a saw. And it grew louder as if it was coming closer. That's when he realized it was. Twisting his ankle so he pivoted on the spot, Naruto brought the wooden sword up just in time. A pair of sharp _thwacks_ sounded, and Naruto stared at the two shuriken that had been deeply embedded in his bokken.

Naruto dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a large man drop dropping on top of him. The heavy _thump _rang through the field, signifying the sheer amount of force that had been put behind the attack. Naruto gulped and watched as his attacker rose, charging at him once more. Naruto sucked in a deep breath through his nose and twisted his spine, spiralling past the attacker with nimble footwork. Instincts, drilled into him since he was 6 and a half, took over from that point. His eyes dimmed a bit as he slipped a kunai from his pocket and moved to hold it at the attacker's throat. He was too slow, however, and the assailant ducked under the rising kunai and buried his elbow deep into Naruto's solar plexus.

Naruto doubled over, coughing up a lung, while his assailant took a few steps forward and turned to face the blond. "You've gotten better since last year that much is for sure."

Naruto glared up at the white haired man. He was dressed in rather flamboyant green clothing, with a red sleeveless _haori, _a kind of coat,and red _geta, _thick wooden sandals on top of two wooden slabs. Two red lines streaked down from the corner of his eyes, and a wide grin was plastered on his face.

"Tch, like it matters. You are still way faster," Naruto complained. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you weren't due back until my birthday."

The man's grin grew ever wider as he picked Naruto up off the ground. "What? Can't I come and see my favourite godson before the assigned date?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him and Jiraiya just laughed. Naruto acted so much like Minato at times, but others he was more like his mother, Kushina. Seeing Naruto still glaring at him, he sighed and waved his hands about.

"Alright, alright... I needed to deliver a message in person to the old man. I figured since I was in the area, I may as well stay. And it gives me a chance to help you finish that last scroll I gave you."

Naruto grinned and threw his arm around his godfather's shoulders. Naruto loved _fuuinjutsu, _the art of sealing. It was one of the few arts that used chakra but wasn't only used by ninja. His father, the Yondaime, was a true master of fuuinjutsu. Jiraiya himself was a registered fuuinjutsu master as well. Naruto would be able to apply to become a Journeyman of Fuuinjutsu after he had become a shinobi. If he registered beforehand, he would have to go through a long and rather taxing process to have his Journeyman rank transfer to his shinobi ID as well.

* * *

Naruto spent the rest of the week and a half until his birthday training with Jiraiya. Haruhi had pretty much forbidden the man to take Naruto as his apprentice until Naruto was old enough to decide for himself. Main reason, she didn't want her youngest boy to become a pervert like all the other men in the world. Although, she also wanted Naruto to be able to choose what he learnt, and with Jiraiya he would be constantly travelling.

Naruto grinned at the feast that had been laid out before him. Miyamoto, who had returned a few days ago, sat to his left while Kenji sat on his right. Jiraiya and Haruhi both sat towards the far end of the table, and watched as Naruto grinned and grabbed the first piece of food.

"Itadakimasu!"

Naruto proceeded to have one of the best meals of his life. The food was great, the company was even better, and the conversation was surprisingly good. Soon after the meal had been torn about by the four boys, Haruhi smiled softly and ushered the group into the small living room. Naruto was seated in Kenji's rather plush armchair, and the rest presented their presents to him.

The first two gifts were presented by Haruhi. The first was a promise to go to one of the larger cities in a few days and buy Naruto a new wardrobe and stock up on his supply of weapons. The second was a custom made first aid kit, which Haku had prepared a few days before she had left. Naruto accepted the kit with a soft smile and placed it on his lap. The next gift was given to him by Kenji. The first part was a strangely shaped kunai, which had some kind of seal on the handle. Jiraiya gasped at the sight of it. Apparently it was one of his father's special kunai which he used in conjunction with his famed technique, the _Hiraishin. _

The second gift was a straight short sword. This style of sword was one of Naruto's favourites, but he never had an actual one before. With a grin, he hugged his adoptive father. The third was from Jiraiya, an old looking book that he explained was the first one he had ever written. It hadn't sold all that well, so he went on to writing smut instead. He also received a new sealing kit, a set of scrolls that all had inbuilt inkwells and could hold a brush.

The final gift was from Miyamoto, a black necklace from which hung a strange stone. It was long, about the length of his pinkie, and was almost pitch black in colour. There were flecks of strange white through the black, but what had Naruto entranced was the stone itself. The back was rough, and in some parts a bit jagged, as if it had broken off from something. The front, in contrast, was completely smooth with a single scar running across it. The white flecks seemed to be prominent in the groove, giving it a strange almost glowing quality against the black stone.

Naruto immediately hung it around his neck and grinned at Miyamoto. It was surprisingly heavy given its size, but nothing Naruto couldn't put up with. With the gifts given, everyone wished Naruto a happy birthday and went off to do their own thing. Naruto stared at his new necklace a little while longer before shaking his head. Kenji still wanted to talk to him about something.

Putting his presents aside, Naruto strode from the living room and down the hall. He slipped through the sliding doors that led to the basement, and jogged down the stairs. The further down he went, the darker it got until there was no light but the slight flickering of a flame. Naruto looked around at his adopted father's study and grinned with glee. This was his second favourite room on the entire farm, the first being his and Miyamoto's.

Naruto ran his hand over the sheath of the beautiful sword that sat atop the red pillar in the middle of the room before moving over to Kenji's desk. The older man wasn't down yet, so Naruto took this chance to see what Kenji actually did down here. Shuffling through the papers, he noticed a few letters from people he didn't know, a few more from people he did, and blueprints for the irrigation system Kenji had set up. Naruto moved them aside and found a letter written in handwriting he didn't recognize, but the name at the bottom he most certainly did. Namikaze Minato.

Naruto took the letter and started to read it.

_Kenji, my friend,_

_I haven't seen you in some time; I hope both Haruhi and young Miyamoto are in good health. However, I fear this isn't a letter to simply catch up. You are well aware of the approaching Kyuubi. It will reach Konoha in mere hours, so I hope the courier gets this to you safely. Kushina gave birth to a boy, a beautiful baby son, but neither she nor I will not see him grow up, Kushina died giving birth. I have no choice, Kenji, but to use the _Dead Demon Consuming Seal _and the _Eight Trigrams Sealing Style _to seal the Kyuubi. I cannot ask this of some other family, so the duty falls to my son. I know he will be strong enough to handle this task._

_Please, Kenji, I beg you to take Naruto away from Konoha. I wish for the people of Konoha to see him as a hero, but I know they won't. They will see him as the demon reincarnate, and will try to kill him. I am truly sorry to leave him alone in the world, and hope he will forgive me for what I have done one day._

_Namikaze Minato._

"I got that letter three years after you were born."

Naruto spun around, locating the source of the voice. Kenji was standing next to his katana, his normally mirthful eyes soft and filled with sadness.

"He never got to send it. Sarutobi found it when you were three, and sent it to me with a note of his own. It's what I wanted to talk to you about today... You've probably already guessed that though, neh?"

Naruto nodded once. He was the container of the Kyuubi no Yoko. "I've known for a long time, probably three years now." Kenji's eyes widened. "Remember when you made us meditate all the time? Well, after a while I kind of ended up in my subconscious mind, my _mindscape._ The Kyuubi was there, roaring about breaking out and devouring me. I haven't talked to him since, but I know he is there...

"There is also the fact that every time I mould chakra, a big ass seal appears around my belly button."

Kenji just stared at the blond. He had _figured it out! _He was so much like Minato it was scary. He couldn't help but grin at the last sentence. That was definitely Kushina breaking through. But never the less, that made his life a bit easier. Now he didn't have to deal with a potentially deadly problem.

"Although," Naruto began, "Why didn't you tell me when you told me about my father?"

"Because, as the time, we wanted you to get used to the idea of Minato as your father, before you found out what he sealed inside you. I was afraid you might hate him."

Naruto shrugged. "When I finally put it all together last year, I did hate him. I understood that I was the most logical choice, but I can still remember my life before I came here. My photographic memory must have developed at a very young age. I thought 'It's his fault I was treated like crap. Why the hell couldn't he have sealed the damn demon into someone else's kid?'

"But I guess if I was put into that position, I couldn't ask someone else to sacrifice their kid so I kind of understand."

Kenji shook his head in awe. "You never cease to amaze me, Naruto. How did you get to be so wise?"

Naruto grinned. "Why, I listened to you of course."

* * *

Naruto shifted his backpack so it was a little more comfortable. He had to go in to the village today, which was a roughly three hour trip at a walk, to get some supplies. Kenji was busy with Jiraiya, and Haruhi had work to do around the house, so the job fell to Naruto and Miyamoto.

The trip was spent in silence. Miyamoto seemed to be in deep thought and Naruto wasn't going to disturb him. He was deadly with that staff of his. The blond's eyes darted back and forth as they walked, taking in the details of the road. Trees lined either side of the dusty path, and they seemed to curve in towards the road, giving random splashes of shade here and there. This road was one of the few that led to the small village of Fushimi.

Fushimi, whilst primarily a sake brewing town, was also home to many farm suppliers because of its proximity to the great farming lands surrounding it and often had travelling merchants who would buy and sell produce. Naruto's favourite spot in the entire village was the waterfall that started on the second level of the three-level village, which had been built on series of small hills. The waterfall came from a natural underground spring, and poured down into the river on the first level of the village.

Naruto and Miyamoto split up the moment they entered the village, going to get the supplies they had each been assigned to gather. Naruto enjoyed talking to the older men who played shogi on their porches, chatting with the few children his age in the village and playing with the younger children. By the time he had gathered everything on his list, and gotten away from the last lot of little kids who had demanded piggy back rides, Naruto was downright exhausted and retreated to his spot, a small ridge that poked out in front of the waterfall.

To his surprise, Miyamoto was already there and seemed to be meditating, his legs folded under him and his eyes closed. Naruto put down his pack and sat down beside his brother, taking up his Indian-style pose and shut his eyes. The pair was silent for a few minutes, before Miyamoto finally broke it.

"Naruto, I... I'm not really sure how to say this, but, I'll try to be as straight forward as I can," he began without opening his eyes. "I won't be joining you in Konoha next year."

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he turned to face his brunet brother. "What?"

Miyamoto sighed. "I won't be becoming a ninja... I know how much being a ninja means to you, and I don't mean to disappoint you, but I want to live with the monks. They taught me so much, when they took me on their pilgrimage. Now just how to fight with a staff, but that all life is precious. A ninja will always be forced to take a human life sometime in their career, and I agree with the monks. No matter their sins, the worst evil-doers can always be brought back to the light. And when they can't, it is not the sinners who are at fault, but we who failed to bring them back. That is the way of the monks, and I have come to believe that myself.

"I will join them when you leave for Konoha, and most likely spend the rest of my life serving them. I truly am sorry if you believe I am abandoning you, Naruto, but this is the path I have chosen for myself."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at Miyamoto. First Haku, now _him! _His own brother was leaving him! How could Naruto forgive him, when he was going to be left alone in Konoha, to deal with the hatred alone?

'_I... I can't let those thoughts fill my mind. Kenji told me what happened to pessimistic ninja, they are always the first to die. Miyamoto... he made his choice. I can't have expected him to stick by me his entire life; this is just a lot sooner that I would have liked.'_

"It's okay, I guess. You have to follow your own road, and I will follow mine. We'll still stay in contact though, so it's not like I'm losing you," Naruto said with a slightly forced grin, that he knew Miyamoto wouldn't notice. Naruto had always been a good liar, for as long as he could remember. The only people who had ever caught it so far were Haruhi and Haku.

Miyamoto nodded and sighed with relief. "I was afraid you'd try to rend my head from my shoulders. I'm glad you understand, Naruto. I think it's about time we started heading back though."

With a nod of agreement, the brothers stood up and took their packs, making their way out of the village. Miyamoto carried on whilst Naruto slowed his pace a little, staring up at the afternoon sky. A soft smile spread across his face.

'_Here I come, Konoha. Let's hope you are prepared for me, neh?'_


	5. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter One  
**_The Hidden Leaf_

* * *

The 'Great Highway', one of the largest roads in the entire Land of Fire, ran from the capital, Tanzaku Gai, where the Daimyo resided, winding around mountains and over rivers, linking with Konohagakure along the way, and all the way to Port City. The soil had compacted in on itself over the years of use, and become that dark yellowish-brown that signified a well worn road. Folk from town and country alike used the road, walking, running or limping to where they needed to go, men, women and children from all aspects of life. Almost all the traffic on the road travelled by foot, few people could afford the high price of horses, and only merchants used carts, as the farmers carried their produce in thick woven baskets they carried on their backs. The wealthy or the noble were carted around in palanquins, which were rather ornate boxes that were carried on suspension poles by two or four men.

A group of merchants had stopped along the highway to discuss prices, and their wares were effectively blocking the road. A shadow appeared in the middle of the orange autumn sun, before spiralling and falling back down to earth in front of the merchant blockade. The figure stood tall and frowned at the merchants, who chuckled nervously and hurriedly moved their carts to one side of the road.

If one was to ask why the merchants acted so quickly, the most likely answer would be because of his appearance. He had golden blond, spiky hair that stopped just as his neck met his shoulders, which fell down his forehead just above his eyes. His blue eyes were mirthful, and a set of three whisker-like marks ran across each of his cheeks. The boy, who could be no older than 13, was clad in a pair of dark navy blue cargo pants covered in pockets, which were taped around his ankles and ran into a pair of black ninja sandals. On the outside of each thigh, he carried a weapon pouch, and a pair of ninja supply pouches sat on each of his hips. His top was a faded grey colour, whilst the outside of the sleeves were the same navy blue as his pants. Underneath was a mesh shirt, which was revealed at the neck of his shirt and were his sleeves ended, before his forearm guards began. The forearm guards themselves were three metal plates, which were designed to move as his arm did, atop a sleeve of mesh. He has gloves that ended at the first knuckle, with a metal plate across the top. Hanging from his neck was a black necklace, which held a lack stone with a single white scar running across its face.

Strapped to his back, held up by a sky blue sash that crossed his front, was a black sheath; home to the ninjato currently resting in it. The ninjato's handle was wrapped in black cotton, revealing the grey rayskin under wrap, and a golden talisman like object in the middle of the handle, which upon closer inspection was designed to look like a whirlpool. Its tsuba, the hand guard, was made of copper and had been intricately designed with turbulent waves around the edges, as if being moved by a strong wind.

Attached to his utility belt, aside from the supply pouches, were a pair of scrolls. Each of them held the same turbulent waves pattern as the ninjato along the top and bottom. The first was marked 'Katana', and the second marked, 'Broadsword'. Concealed within the depths of his weapons pouches were several kunai knives and shuriken. In his supply pouches, he held a mass of scrolls, ninja tools like ninja wire, smoke bombs, flash bangs and lock picking sets etc, spare kunai and shuriken and a re-breather he had obtained during a trip to the Land of Snow. Hidden between the metals slats of his forearm guard where several flat blade throwing knives and a few more shuriken.

"Naruto, you really shouldn't scare people like that. It'll give you a bad reputation."

The blond turned his head and pouted at the man that was walking towards up the now cleared highway. He had scraggy brown hair, a few scars and wrinkles across his face, and brown eyes that were sparkling with amusement. The beginnings of a beard were starting to form along his chin and jaw line, and he tended to scratch at the growing hairs. Garbed in a simple travelling outfit of loose fitting dark brown pants and a white shirt with green travelling jacket, he looked like every part the farmer he was. What made people avoid him though was the katana strapped to his side and the weapon's holster strapped to his thigh. Also, hanging from his belt, was a rather large, bulging sack which was filled with money.

"But it's their fault for blocking the way, Kenji-san!" moaned the blond.

Kenji raised a finger to his lips, as if mentally debating the situation, but he shrugged and nodded. "I suppose you're right."

Naruto threw out his hand and made a v-sign. "Hah! I am always right! Yet another victory for the all mighty Uzumaki Naruto!"

With an amused sigh and a shake of his head, Kenji grabbed his adopted son by the scruff of his collar and started forward towards the great gates that sealed off the east entrance to Konoha. Naruto struggled for several minutes before he finally came to his senses and grumbled under his breath. He raised his free hands into a set of hand seals whilst focussing his chakra. A plume of smoke later and Naruto was walking free and clear of Kenji, leaving the man staring at the log that was now in his hand. Kenji threw the leg in Naruto's direction, wondering how, not if, his son would react to the oncoming danger.

To an untrained eye, Naruto's arm would have been a blur, and the log would have seemingly split in two and fell to the ground on its own. However, to a ninja, and more specifically Kenji, Naruto had moved at a fairly average speed. He had sensed the oncoming projectile, drawn his blade and turned half circle, slicing the log as he turned. After the threat had been sufficiently dismantled, Naruto finished his turn and sheathed his sword, continuing on as if nothing had happened. Kenji couldn't help but nod proudly at Naruto's back, his son was more than ready to become an official ninja.

The pair made it to the great green gates of Konoha without any more incidents, amiably chatting when the two chunin on guard duty stopped them. The first chunin stepped forward, a bored look on his face as if he would rather be out fighting some foreign ninja or a band of thugs.

"Papers, please," the chuunin droned.

Kenji reached into his jacket to retrieve his, and Naruto fished around in one of his pockets. After a few seconds, they both handed their papers over for inspection, and they both his amused smiles when the chunin's eyes widened at the names on the papers. Takezo Kenji was rather famous in Konoha, as the Yondaime Hokage's trusted teammate and confidant, also because he was the next desired leader after the former Yondaime. He had turned down the position for a rural life with his wife, and had never regretted it. Naruto, as the adopted son of Kenji, also had Takezo in his surname, but also carried his first surname of Uzumaki. Officially, he was also the heir to the Namikaze clan as the son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime, however the knowledge was not yet public.

"Takezo-sama, it is an honour to meet you. And young Naruto, it is good to see you again. You probably don't remember me, but I am-"

"Kotetsu-san, you and Izumo-san used to look after me when Sarutobi-jiji couldn't. Still a chunin then, huh?" Naruto said, shocking both Kotetsu and Izumo.

Kotetsu was the first one to snap out of his daze, and shook his head with a disgruntled moan. "Yup, still a chunin. To be honest, I'm surprised you remember us."

Izumo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you were only what? Three when you left?"

The blond nodded and grinned cheekily. "I have a really great memory; photographic, actually."

Izumo shook his head and waved the pair on. The chunin couple stared after them, and Kotetsu couldn't help but grin. "That kid... Heh, I can't wait to see what he grows into."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was having one hell of a day. First he got the psychological reports on the current graduating class from the Academy. Most of them were fine, if a little eccentric. What disturbed him were two particular files. The first was Uchiha Sasuke. The sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre, and considered to be the last of the Uchiha, despite his older brother still being alive. Ever since that night, he had steadily gone downhill. Whilst he remained at the top of the Academy, he had constantly challenged people to fights, ignored anyone who attempted to befriend him, and even accused the teachers at the Academy of holding him back. He was obsessed with getting power so he could 'avenge' his clan and kill his brother. Sarutobi feared that obsession would lead to the young Sasuke doing something drastic in the future.

The second report was on the second best kunoichi in the academy, grades wise anyhow. Haruno Sakura, a pink haired young girl more obsessed with gaining the attention of Uchiha Sasuke than being a ninja. Sub-par chakra levels, sub-par Taijutsu, average Genjutsu and above average chakra control, most likely due to her lack of chakra. The psychologist believed that, while she has the potential to become a decent ninja, possibly even a medic in the future, she lacked the necessary drive and determination. Her obsession with the Uchiha child also seemed to be self destructive, as should seemed willing to do _anything _for the boy. The psychologist also believed she had some kind of dual personality. Whilst not uncommon amongst veteran ninja, to have one at such a young age signified mental problems.

With all of that information, and the assurance from Umino Iruka, the current teacher, Sarutobi had designed the teams according to usual Konoha standards. And it didn't look great. He would be forced to pair Haruno and Uchiha together in order to balance the teams according to their grades, and some no-name child would be their third member due to his extremely poor grades. The team would most likely be absolutely destroyed on their first mission outside the village, but his advisors and Danzo were pressuring him to allow the Uchiha to pass despite his report. He was the last bearer of the infamous Sharingan who was still loyal to Konoha; at least that is what the rest of the village though. Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother and the teenager who had killed his entire clan, had done so on the orders of the Hokage as the entire clan was planning a coup d'état.

Sarutobi rubbed his forehead before he took up his pipe, packing it with his favourite tobacco blend. Taking the box of matches from his desk, he struck one and held it for a few seconds, allowing the sulphur on the tip to burn away before taking the mouthpiece between his lips and holding the flame over the tobacco, moving it in circles while he puffed on it. Once that was done, he tamped down the surface tobacco and lit it once more, taking a long draw on it. He let the smoke swirl around in his mouth for a bit before releasing into the air with a long sigh.

'_Much better...'_

A cough broke him from his relaxation, and he turned and raised an eyebrow at the people before him. A smile slowly spread across his lips and his eyes twinkled with life that had been lost for many years.

"You know, old man, you really shouldn't smoke so much in the office. It's going to kill one of your ninja when they try to deliver a report."

"Kenji-kun, you won't deny an old man of his favourite pastime, would you?" Sarutobi questioned, his eyebrows rising a little as if he was expecting an answer.

Kenji chuckled and a soft laugh echoed from behind him. Sarutobi arched only one eyebrow as he craned his neck to see who was behind Kenji. Naruto stepped around the older man and waved at Sarutobi, a grin on his face and his cerulean eyes sparkling with mischief.

"You can smoke all you like, I say. Kenji-tou-san does it as well when Haruhi-kaa-chan isn't around." Naruto poked his tongue at Kenji, who now looked slightly putout. "Hi, Sarutobi-jiji!"

Sarutobi stared at the boy, taking in his appearance. He was definitely a young ninja, and his attitude was far better than what Sarutobi would have imagined he would have turned out like if he stayed in Konoha. A grandfatherly smile and a 'come here' beckon later; Naruto was around the table and giving the old man a hug.

"Missed you, old man," Naruto mumbled. He remembered everything from the time he was 1 and a half, but his most prominent memory was that of his 'grandfather'. He had also visited the Hokage on his eighth birthday when Haruhi had come into Konoha, bringing Naruto along.

Sarutobi chuckled and patted Naruto on the head. "And I you, sweet boy. Your father has been sending me letters on your progress and I haven't seen you since you were eight. Tell me, what has been happening in the last four years, hmm?"

And so Naruto launched into his long story of living on the farm. Everything between the last time he had seen Sarutobi and today, omitting certain details about his nukenin teachers. Sarutobi laughed, smiled, and nodded sagely at the correct points, listening with rapture to the boy's tale. Naruto always had a gift for gaining people's attention. A flash of a Naruto wearing a bright orange jumpsuit went through his mind when he thought of Naruto getting attention. Sarutobi fought to stop himself from snorting at the image.

'_As if Naruto would ever be caught in a jumpsuit, let alone an orange one.' _

When the tale finally ended, Sarutobi nodded thoughtfully. Maybe Naruto could help with his current problem. He had a good head on his shoulders, he was able to get through to most people, and if Sarutobi guessed right he could defend himself and others. Yes, Naruto would become the final member of the unbalanced team. But before that, there were still some issues to attend to.

"If I had known you would be back today, I would have been more prepared. Hold on just a second."

The Hokage got up from his seat and walked over to the furthest shelf on the left wall, closest to the window. Moving a few scrolls and books aside, Sarutobi found what he was looking for and made a half-ram seal with his right hand whilst his left hand disappeared into the bookshelf. A soft _creak _echoed through the office, and the bookshelf started to swing away from the wall, revealing a hidden room. Sarutobi motioned for the pair to come through, and made his way inside.

The room was about the size of the office, maybe a bit smaller. The walls were lined with shelves which were overflowing with scrolls and books. In the middle of the room was a table which had several items on it that Naruto didn't recognize. Looking around, he saw that not only were there scrolls and books in the shelves, but boxes and chests as well.

"Kenji, I'm sure you remember this room. But for Naruto, this is the Hokage's personal vault. Anything that relates to the Hokage or future Hokages is stored in here. What we are in here for is..." Sarutobi moved over to one of the shelves and slid a rather ornate chest from it. Blowing the dust off the top, he nodded to himself and turned around, showing the pair the chest. "This."

He handed the box to Naruto, and waved them out, shutting the bookcase behind him. A soft glow emanated from where Sarutobi had stuck his hand in before and the bookshelf sealed itself with a _click. _Naruto stared at the box, more specifically at the golden plaque along the top. It read _Namikaze Naruto._

Naruto looked up at the Sandaime, who nodded once, before he moved to open the box. His eyebrow twitched when the lid wouldn't budge, and he scowled at the amused look on both Hiruzen's and Kenji's faces. Lifted the box to eye height, he noticed that where a lock would normally be on a chest, was a seal. More specifically, a blood seal; designed by clans long ago for keeping their clan secrets exactly that, secrets. He had studied them with Jiraiya about six months ago.

Biting his thumb, Naruto draw blood and swiped it across the seal, before trying his luck at opening the box once more. This time, the lid slid up without a problem, revealing the inside of the chest. The edges were lined in what looked like red silk, and sitting on a cushion was a single scroll bearing the 'waves and wind' design at each end, signifying it as a Namikaze scroll. Naruto slipped the scroll from its resting place, unrolling it with an almost reverence of the object. Within was a map of Konoha, with prominence put into a certain detail.

In a small part of forest to the north east of the village, a house was marking with the Namikaze name next to it. Obviously, it was the Namikaze clan estate, although it seemed considerably smaller than all the other clan compounds within the Hidden Village. Naruto unrolled more of the scroll to reveal a paragraph of writing and a series of storage seals. The paragraph was merely directions to the house, as the path was well hidden. Underneath each storage seal though was a name. The first was his, so he assumed the first held something for him specifically. The second along the line was marked 'Kenji/Jiraiya'. Naruto raised an eyebrow and showed it to Kenji, who shrugged in response. The next along the line was marked 'Uzumaki,' and the final was marked 'Kazama.'

Naruto held the scroll out to the Sandaime. "Jiji, what is this last name? I don't recognize it at all."

Sarutobi glanced down at the name. "Ah, the Kazama clan are tied to the Namikaze. They act as keepers, bodyguards or servants depending on the situation. Kazama Shigeru and his granddaughter are the last remaining Kazama that we are aware of. They both live at the Namikaze household."

Naruto nodded. "I see... So, when can I check out the house?"

Sarutobi chucked, "Not until you go to the Academy. I've already had you enrolled, but you need to get to know the people you will be working with when you become a ninja. The Genin exam is in a week, and the teams will be announced a fortnight after that."

Naruto sighed and pouted. "Oh come on! Do I really have to? I want to check out my new house!"

Kenji slapped Naruto up the back of his head. "Don't be so disrespectful, jeez. Your mother would have a fit if she heard that whining from you."

The blond frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Tch, I learnt how to whine from this man and he is getting up me for it." Naruto ducked another swat aimed at his head and threw his arms up in defeat. "Fine, fine, I'll go to the Academy. Jeez!"


	6. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Two  
**_Day of Discovery_

* * *

Cerulean eyes surveyed the outside walls of the famed Ninja Academy of Konoha. Many legends had begun inside these walls, some good and some terrible. To one ninja hopeful in particular though, it looked like a boring old school that would drain the life out of him faster than any kunai could. With a sigh, Naruto started towards the doors. The only thing he was looking forward to, joining the academy, was the possibility of making some friends. He had never had any his own age, as he had lived alone with his family for most of his life.

Pushing open the red doors, he started through the foyer and towards the stairs that led up to the classrooms. Glancing around as he walked, he noticed a reception desk and several doors that most likely led to small libraries and offices. Taking the stairs three at a time, he glanced down at the slip of paper the Hokage had given him. It held the classroom he needed to find, as well as a small note for the instructor. A chunin named Iruka, who seemed to be one of the better teachers in the academy.

He fiddled with his forearm armour as he walked, looking into the small windows on each door to the classrooms. It was slightly disconcerting, seeing so many kids wanting to be ninja. Half of them probably didn't even know what it truly meant to be a ninja. That it was a lonesome life, filled with chaos and destruction. Sure, it was honourable to serve your village, but sometimes it wasn't worth it. At least, according to Kenji that's how the life was. Many ninja had quit due to the pressure, and were forced to be subject to the memory removal jutsu of the Konoha ANBU, getting rid of any confidential information they may know of.

Naruto looked up from his wondering and found himself in front of the classroom he was supposed to join. Was his mind really far off that he had gone into auto-pilot? Shaking his head, he sucked in a deep breath and cleared his mind, preparing himself for whatever was on the other side of the door. His hand reached out for the handle, and Naruto steeled himself for what he was sure would be the worst few hours of his life to date.

* * *

Iruka stared at his rather rambunctious class and gave a frustrated sigh. Despite the fact that they all had the potential to pass the academy's Genin exam, most of them would fail during their Jounin-sensei's exam. Of the entire class, only the seven clan heirs would pass without problem. Unfortunately, that left unbalanced numbers, so unless one of the clan-less really stepped up their game, one of the heirs would be forced to return to the academy for another year or enter the standard program.

His brown eyes wandered over each and everyone one of the heirs, and he couldn't help but be proud. Despite their odd attitudes, they were all strong; ready to join the ranks of the Konoha Elite. A paper plane floated above his head, and Iruka's eye started to twitch. Time to get the class back under control; they had had their fun for the day. Inhaling deeply, Iruka readied to use his 'Demon Head Jutsu', when the door slowly opened.

The entire room's attention was suddenly on the door. A sandal covered foot stepped through, followed by a leg that held a weapons pouch. Slowly, the form of a boy the same age as the rest of the class appeared through the door, a shy grin on his face. Iruka's eyes widened before they narrowed, he recognized this child. It was the whisker marks that gave him away. It was the jinchuuriki that held the Kyuubi no Yoko, Uzumaki Naruto.

'_What the hell is _he _doing here?'_

Naruto strolled across the room and handed the note to Iruka. The chunin looked it over and almost howled in annoyance. This brat would be part of his class for the rest of the week and then take the exams. What the hell was the Hokage thinking?

* * *

'_What the hell is that old man thinking?'_ Naruto thought. _'This teacher obviously hates me, he must know the truth about the Kyuubi. Gah, this was a bad idea!'_

"Err, hi..." Naruto trailed off, not quite sure what to say.

Iruka stared at him for a moment before handing the note back to the blond. "Introduce yourself to the class, and then take a seat. There is a spare next to Sasuke." Iruka motioned with his finger.

Nodding, Naruto faced the class and lowered into a bow. "Hello, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. It is nice to meet you all."

Immediately whispers burst out between the students. Girls were claimed he was 'almost as hot as Sasuke', whilst the boys were discussing the ninjato on his back and the slats of metal atop his forearms. With a mental groan, Naruto made his way up to the third row where Sasuke was sitting. Only Iruka noticed that he made absolutely no noise as he walked, causing the chunin's eyebrows to rise in curiosity.

Naruto slipped into the seat next to the raven haired Uchiha heir, and smiled at the boy. "Nice to meet you... Sasuke, right?"

Sasuke just grunted and turned away, staring out the window with a brooding look on his face. Naruto sighed and turned back to face Iruka, who was starting his lecture on the art of precision kunai throwing. Judging by the groans that came from the students, this was a subject that had already been covered before, and Naruto already knew about it as well. Resting his cheek in his upturned palm, Naruto settled in for what he knew was going to be a long day.

* * *

Iruka looked around the classroom and upon seeing that most of his students were half asleep, if not already there, he decided it would be best to cut his lecture off at that point. Checking the clock that hung above the door using his peripherals, Iruka figured it was time to let the monkeys out for some exercise. The moment the words fell out of his mouth, the entire class bolted for the door except one certain blond.

Naruto watched the mob charge for the door with wide eyes. The entire class was insane! Looking back to Iruka, he saw his sensei smirk before motioning towards the door with his left hand. Nodding, Naruto hopped up and vaulted over the desk, hurtling towards the ground floor. Iruka moved forward with concern. He may hate the demon, but so far this kid had been nothing but polite, and he didn't want the Sandaime on his ass for letting Naruto break his own neck. To his surprise, Naruto landed in a sort of skid, before stretching up to his full height of roughly 5'5 and smirked at Iruka.

"Come on then, I assume you want to go outside as much as the rest of the children," Iruka said.

Naruto lips parted as his smirk turned to a grin, and Iruka eyes widened slightly at the sight of Naruto's canine teeth. They were as long and as sharp as Kiba's, and that boy was from the Inuzuka clan, who were famous for having dog-like traits. Shaking his head, Iruka shooed Naruto out the door, following closely behind. He observed the blond from behind as Naruto made his way towards the staircase, wondering if his opinion of this child was completely wrong.

* * *

Naruto jogged through the foyer, ignoring Iruka's scalding about running indoors, and burst through the entrance doors into the sun. Feeling the warmth of his face, Naruto couldn't help but smile contentedly. He loved the feeling the sun brought him, it made him think of home, doing his chores around the farm. An easier life where Miyamoto was still at his side and Haku would still be around. He ducked a swing from Iruka's open hand, and jogged alongside the teacher to where the rest of the class had gathered.

Leaving Iruka, Naruto stepped into the group and stopped beside a boy with a hairstyle reminiscent of a pineapple, and a boy that looked like he ate non-stop. And if Naruto went by the packet of crisps in his hand, the blond's theory was probably right.

"Alright class," Iruka began, "run two laps around the yard and then go through your stretches. We'll do some sparring after you are all warmed up."

A chorus of 'Hais' rang through the yard before the large group separated into smaller ones. Sasuke was by himself towards the front, his fan girls trailing behind him. A few random classmates spread out over the edge of the yard followed by a group of boys towards the back. Naruto was with the group of boys at the back, and he tried to make conversation with the fellow boys in his class. After all, the entire reason for his attending the academy was to get to know his future comrades.

"Hi there," he said towards the pineapple haired boy, "so who are the people I should get to know around here? I'm Uzumaki Naruto in case you forgot."

Said boy looked at Naruto with a strange, inquisitive look. "Nara Shikamaru and it's kind of hard to forget a name like Naruto." Naruto grinned. "I hope you won't turn out to be as troublesome as the other blond in this class. But I suppose the people you want to get to know is the group we are with right now and maybe Hinata.

"Well, that's Akimichi Chouji; he is Aburame Shino; and the rather wild looking one is Inuzuka Kiba." Shikamaru pointed to each of the boys as he introduced them.

Chouji smiled and waved at Naruto, Shino merely nodded and Kiba turned and started to run backwards, grinning at the blond. The group started a conversation on likes and dislikes, trying to get to know one another better. Shikamaru loved shogi much more than Naruto did, and Naruto enjoyed that game quite a lot. The Nara also played any other board game that required strategy and thinking. Chouji was Shikamaru's best friend, and the pair often watched clouds together. Shino was, for the most part, completely silent. He apparently enjoyed silence and stillness, as it gave him more opportunities to find bugs and other creepy crawlies. Kiba was loud, brash and loved a good laugh. He was also the second best Taijutsu fighter in the academy, shortly after Sasuke.

Before they realized it, the group had finished their laps and gone through their stretches. Naruto was looking forward to this part of the day. The only way to determine a person's true character was by how they fought. The best way to judge them was to fight them but watching from the sidelines also gave valuable insight. The only people he was overly worried about were Kiba and Sasuke. They were both top of the class in Taijutsu, and Naruto's was only average. He had spent more time working on his sword styles and techniques than on the martial arts.

Naruto sat with Shikamaru and Chouji on the stone benches that lined the far side of the outdoor arena. The ground was solid dirt covered in a layer of soft grass as to prevent too bad of an injury but at the same time simulate a potential fight in the field. White lines painted on the grass marked the edges of the arena, and Iruka explained that being forced out of the arena was considered as a fall.

"Okay, standard rules. For those who have forgotten, Taijutsu only. No ninjutsu or genjutsu. The first to two falls is the loser," the chunin explained.

After that was done with, Iruka started to call out names of those who were evenly matched in terms of Taijutsu. The only one he wasn't sure about was Naruto, having never seen him fight. Naruto watched Shino and Shikamaru fight with interest. Shino's moves wasted no energy, and were brutally efficient whilst Shikamaru waited for Shino to make a move and then reacted accordingly. It was fascinating to watch, something similar to a game of live shogi.

Kiba's and Chouji's fight was an all out brawl, Chouji using his family Taijutsu style and throwing his weight behind his punches, and Kiba's natural dog fighting style was something terrifying to watch. Chouji had several gashes along his arms and face when the pair was finished, but Kiba was sporting a brand new shiner, a busted lip and was limping slightly. Despite their state, each of the ninja bowed to each other at the end and helped one another back to the stands, grinning the entire time.

Iruka looked across the stands, and shrugged when he noticed something. "Okay, the final two are Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke smirked and walked down to the arena with an aura of complete and total arrogance. And if the tales Naruto had heard were true, that arrogance as well founded. Naruto gulped, and slowly made his way down to the arena as well. As he walked, he unclipped his forearm holsters and took off his gloves, removing the metal on his arms that could cause extra damage. He slipped his ninjato and sash off as well, and wrapped the guards and gloves in the sash, leaving them with Iruka.

Said brunet stared at the pair who where now facing each other in the arena. "Begin!"

Naruto was forced to back pedal away from Sasuke, who charged forward with speed that almost matched Naruto's. He wasn't expecting a full frontal assault from a ninja, especially one that was rumoured to be as good as Sasuke. Ducking a backhand swing aimed at his temple, Naruto moved into a sweep kick that Sasuke managed to jump over. Naruto corkscrewed up, his hand balled into a tight fist and aimed an uppercut at the Uchiha's jaw. Said boy bent his neck back a bit, narrowly avoiding the punch, and kicked off Naruto's forearm, moving back across the arena.

Naruto dashed forward, zigzagging left to right, planning his next move. Sasuke smirked and fell into his clans Taijutsu stance, and Naruto noticed a major flaw. The stance left so many openings it wasn't funny. Though from what he had heard from Kenji about the Uchiha, the clan relied on their Sharingan rather heavily when it came to Taijutsu fighting. The ability to predict an opponent's moves would make up for any openings in their defence. Naruto lowered himself closer to the ground, lowering his centre of gravity and began to pick up speed. Three paces, two paces, one pace! There! Naruto twisted on his foot and seemingly tripped himself, moving into a horizontal spin. Sasuke's smirk grew wider, and Naruto couldn't help but grin. Naruto finished the first 180 degrees of the rotation and swung his leg out, slamming it down onto the crown of Sasuke's head.

The Uchiha dropped like a stone, a shocked cry erupting from his lips. Naruto landed in a crouch behind Sasuke and grinned. Iruka nodded and raise a finger on his left hand.

"One fall to Naruto."

Sasuke growled and jumped back onto his feet, charging Naruto like an enraged animal. Naruto's right foot slid backwards, and he bent his knees, preparing for the coming onslaught. Just as Sasuke's came within range, he jumped and threw both his legs out in front of him in a drop kick. Cerulean eyes widened as Naruto took the kick straight to his face, sending his neck snapping backwards with frightening velocity. The rest of the blond's body followed, but Naruto managed to keep hold of his senses and land in a handstand in time to avoid a fall. What he wasn't expecting was Sasuke to be already on the ground and sweep his hands from under him, sending Naruto tumbling onto the grass.

"One fall to Sasuke."

The two boys and moved back onto their feet, circling each other as they went around the arena. Naruto could feel the eyes of the entire class on the fight, more specifically on him. Even Sasuke's fan girls were watching him. Sucking in a deep breath, his nostrils flared for a moment and that was when all hell broke loose. The boys charged each other, throwing precisely aimed punches and kicks; blocking, evading and parrying one another. Naruto could feel the bruises starting to form around his ribs, as well as the tooth that had been knocked slightly loose. Naruto doubled back away from Sasuke and felt the tooth with his tongue.

'_Phew, just a baby one,' _Naruto thought.

Naruto slapped a backhand to the side and spiralled in towards Sasuke's chest. Bringing his elbow backwards, he felt it slam into Sasuke's chest and couldn't help but grin. That had to have hurt. He moved away quickly, but not fast enough to avoid a rising kick to his chin. Naruto felt his teeth pierce his tongue and cried out, blood flying from his mouth. Seeing Sasuke's smirk coming back, Naruto snarled and swung his legs up, forcing himself to spin and his feet collided with Sasuke's own chin. The boys both crashed to the ground with rather resounding _thump_s.

Iruka stared at the two boys and chuckled, waving his hands across each other. "Double fall. It's a draw."

Naruto was the first to get back onto his feet. He spat a mouthful of blood onto the grass, staining the lush greenery with the crimson red. Walking over to Sasuke, the blond grinned and held out his hand towards his opponent.

"That was a good match, neh?"

Sasuke stared at the hand, but didn't glare and didn't sneer. He merely stood up of his own accord, and grunted what Naruto figured was agreement. The grin on Naruto's face grew brighter, and the young Uchiha shook his head. Iruka called the students across and sent the overly injured ones to see the academy medic. Naruto thanked the man gratefully; his tongue was starting to get really sore.

* * *

A shadowed figure sat hunched over a desk in a dankly lit room. There were a few gothic-style torch holders lining the walls, and the torches weren't burning that brightly signifying how long they had been ablaze. The figure only had his left eye showing, as his forehead and right eye were covered in bandages. A cross shaped scar marred his chin, and the wrinkles that were apparent on the visible part of his face signified he was getting on in his years.

A flicker of the light in the room, nothing overtly obvious but something that shouldn't have happened drew the man's attention away from the mission report he was reading. His single eye trailed over to a pair of Konoha ANBU look-a-likes. The only different between these men and the actual ANBU was the fact that their armour was matte black instead of the grey of the ANBU. Their swords were also shorter, and had no tip.

"Well?" the man questioned.

"The research has come along as quickly as we expected it. Our top analysts and creators are working on the Jutsu as we speak," the first of the two look-a-likes said.

The scarred man nodded, "Good. And how long will it take?"

"Even with the information Orochimaru left behind," the second figure began, "it will likely take at the very least, six months."

The man stood up from his desk, revealing his right arm hanging uselessly in a sling and a cane in his left hand. "Six months... Just in time for the Chunin exams. Be sure that Shisui's body is recovered and prepared before then." He waited for the pair to nod before he continued. "What news of the squad tracking Orochimaru?"

"At last report, they mentioned Orochimaru was planning on meeting with the Kazekage. For what reason, they weren't sure."

"I see... If that is all, return to your assignments."

The two figures nodded as the knelt on one knee. "Hai, Danzo-sama!"

* * *

A _snick _echoed through the forest, followed by a lightning fast flash of light. Several overgrown branches fell cleanly from their trees, falling to the forest floor with a heavy _thump_. Naruto spun his ninjato around in his right hand, his left clutching the scroll that held his new home's location. He hadn't waited for Kenji and Sarutobi after the academy ended for the day, and ran ahead to the small patch of forestry in an attempt to scope out his clan house.

Utilizing the now cleared path, Naruto shot up through the trees, bouncing from one to another to gain speed. When he finally broke through the canopy, he had to shield his eyes from the sudden onslaught of the bright sun. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the patches of white in his vision before he took to surveying his surroundings. He was definitely in the right patch of forest, his map and geography skills confirmed that. The instructions that had come with the map were obviously old, as the path it had mentioned had disappeared. If that was the case, how on earth did the two Kazama living on the estate get out of the forest?

His blue eyes trailed across the tree tops before they flicked back to a patch where the trees seemed darker that the others around them. Making sure he applied chakra to his feet, Naruto bound across the canopy being careful to only step on actual branches and not just twigs. They wouldn't be able to hold his weight. As he got closer to the darker patch of trees, he realized that they weren't actually darker, just further away than the rest of the trees. If that was the case, there had to be a clearing just before them, right?

Naruto's chakra flared briefly when he got to excited and lost control. The sudden burst was timed just as he went to jump to another treetop, and it sent the boy flying up and forward. A panicked yell erupted from Naruto as he tried to regain control of his body, but the wind was whipping at him as if it were a cat o' nine tails. As he spun he noticed that this was definitely the spot, as there was a rather large house just below him. He threw his ninjato with as much force as he could towards the ground, his scroll wrapped around the hilt, and quickly made a cross shaped seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," the blond crowed.

In a cloud of smoke, a doppelganger appeared in front of him and Naruto latched onto its shoulders. The momentum transferred from the original to the clone and they were both sent forward. Naruto, however, used the solid body as a spring board and launched himself towards the clearing. Just as he came into range of the ground, Naruto curved his spine and spun into a standing position, applying chakra to his legs and feet.

Large chunks of earth were sent flying from the impact, and a ring of dust flew out from the newly formed crater. Naruto glanced back up at the sky in time to see his clone dispel in a cloud of smoke and the blond couldn't help but grin.

"Well that was fun."

Naruto brushed the dust that had clung to his pants and shirt, before climbing out of the crater and walked across to where his sword had been impaled into the ground. Naruto took the scroll from its handle and wrapped it up before slipping it into a hidden pocket on the inside of his shirt. Naruto grabbed the sword and tugged. It slid from the earth with relative ease, and Naruto couldn't help but frown when he saw the state of the blade. It would take a while to clean and sharpen in back to its normal state, but that was what he got for being brash. Reaching into one of his pockets, he plucked a cloth from it that vaguely smelt of cloves and carefully ran it along the blade, cleaning off the dust and earth that had clung to it.

He swung in a few times, making sure everything was still intact, before he sheathed the blade over his shoulder. He would take the time later to go over the entire sword piece by piece, but right now he had a house to explore. He turned around and started to really take in the details of the Namikaze estate. The first thing he noticed was that, from the outside it seemed a lot smaller than the other clan compounds around Konoha. The Uchiha pretty much had their own town within the village when they were still alive.

The building sat on land for the most part, but there were several sections that sat atop the waterways that run about the clearing. The house itself was designed according to more traditional standards, at least on the outside. A dark brown wooden frame, with pale yellow walls that had obviously been painted, made up the main house, with near black brown tiles lining the roofs. The entrance to the building was more modern in design, being hardwood with a modern door.

Naruto noticed a cobble stone path that lead straight to the door, lined on either side in orange-brown bricks that every now and then had a red lantern atop it. Deciding to leave the house exploration for later, he followed the path south from the house, wondering how the hell he didn't notice it coming in. The path wove around trees and the occasional hill, and he went down a set of steps, until it came to a sort of valley between two hills. Either side of the path was lined by sakura trees. Naruto walked down the path and followed the curve around to the left.

'_So that's why I couldn't find it. The directions said that the path began on the east side of the forest, this is heading west.'_

The path reached a wooden red arching bridge that crossed over a koi pond, before the end of the trail disappeared into trees again. Naruto slipped through the trees to find he was free from the forest, and surprisingly close to a ninja training grounds. This side of the forest had a rather large iron gate running down it, and Naruto wondered why there was no gate on the other side. Shrugging, he turned back and launched himself up into the trees. It was time to check out the house.

Naruto dropped down in onto the stone path in the clearing, and followed it over to the door. He ran his finger around the door lock and frowned. He needed a key. Surely the Yondaime wouldn't have given him a house and forgotten the key. Reaching into his hidden pocket, he slid the scroll from within and unrolled it across his forearms. Re-reading the directions, there was nothing mentioned about a key. Moving across to the storage seals, he 'hmm'ed in interest before he swiped his thumb over the seal marked 'Namikaze'. He felt his chakra drain just a little bit, and in a cloud of smoke a set of keys appeared. Naruto snatched the keys up and wrapped the scroll up before sliding it into his pocket once more.

He went through the keys until he found a rather old looking one that fit the lock. Naruto was shocked to see that once he twisted it, several seals that had previously been invisible lit up brightly along the walls and door. After a moment, they faded back into nothingness and Naruto figured they must have been security seals of some kind. He would have to ask Jiraiya next time he saw him. The blond pushed open the door and stepped into the small entryway, which had a small cupboard pushed up against the wall and was blocked from the main house by a sliding door. Naruto toed off his sandals and pushed them to the side opposite the cabinet and stepped up onto the raised floor of the house.

Naruto wriggled his toes on top of the _tatami _flooring, woven straw mats that lined the floor, and almost giggled at the ticklish feeling. He turned full circle, taking in the room with curious eyes. For the most part, it seemed traditional aside from the modern lighting in the ceiling. There were two _fusuma_, sliding panels, which acted as doors at the far end and the wall on the left of the room. What drew Naruto's attention however was the slight alcove in the right wall. At either end were two bonsai's, each looked well maintained, followed by an empty space and then two sets of three pillar candles. The candles framed the bottom of a wall hanging, which had a circle at the top which held the Namikaze symbol of turbulent waves, and also had waves running across the bottom of it. Written between the two images was 'Of Waves and Wind'.

Naruto couldn't help but grin. It was a Namikaze wall hanging. He traced the outline of the waves on the circle at the top before he turned to continue his exploration. He moved over to the left fusuma, the one that was across from him, and studied the paining on it. It was a cliff looking out towards the sea. In the background were a few birds, and what looked like a rainbow but was too wavy and wasn't the right colours. It was predominately an almost neon green, with softer shades towards the top.

Sliding it along the runners, Naruto was soon staring into a long hallway. The wall on his right side had several sliding doors before it turned into a corner. The left side was a simple wall that went all the way along until it too turned into a corner. Naruto walked up to the first set of doors and slid it open. The room was a modern kitchen, with a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and even a trash compacter. There were several cupboards attached to the walls, which Naruto assumed held the dinnerware and cutlery, and countertops all along the right wall. A small wooden door just before the left wall joined with the far wall opened into a pantry. The left wall itself was left bare, but there was an opening that went into the next room. Naruto went through and found himself in a dining room that could easily seat at least twenty people. At the moment though only one small table was set up which could seat around six to eight.

Naruto went back into the hallway, doubling back through the kitchen to shut the sliding doors, and made his way to the third room. The fusuma opened to reveal a room that Naruto recognized would be used for tea ceremonies. Sliding the door shut again, Naruto took the corner and was again in another long hallway. This one had two fusuma along the right wall, and a _shoji _sliding door was towards the middle of the left wall. Light filtered through the grid-like wooden framework, making a criss-cross pattern on the tatami ahead. It obviously opened to the outside of the house and not another room, but Naruto would leave that until he explored the first two rooms.

He slid open the first set of doors, which were left blank of any design, and immediately broke out into a wide grin. It was a dojo. Not just any dojo either, a fully equipped ninja dojo. Seals lined the walls to prevent damage from any jutsu below B rank, and would probably act as steel-reinforced concrete when hit by a stray weapon. Racks along the walls housed weapons from a standard katana, to the sickle and scythe, and even to nunchakus and other blunt instruments. The floor was lined with tatami again, but there was an elevated stage in the middle of the room that was simple hardwood. Naruto traced his fingers along the edge of the stage and noticed several seals grafted into the wood itself and not just painted. He really needed to have Jiraiya come and take a look at this house, because these seals were too advanced for him to read properly.

He made his way to the other room, which revealed a set of stairs going up to the next floor and a door, similar to the one that barred entry to the house. Naruto shuffled through the keys and found the one that fit, but decided to leave it. It was obviously locked up better than the rest of the house for a reason. He looked towards the shoji screen, but made the decision to leave that until he had explored the rest of the house. He made his way around into the final hallway, as this one ended in a wall, and had to walk halfway down to get to the first room. Well, the first door really led to the toilet, but that didn't count. It shouldn't be classed as a room.

The room was a study, several bookshelves lining the walls with different little decorative pieces. Naruto walked over to the _kotatsu _and stared at the photo that sat atop it. It was of a tall man, with cerulean eyes and long blonde, spiky hair. He was dressed in the standard Konoha Jounin uniform plus a long white coat, and had his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a shorter woman. The woman took Naruto's breath away, long flowing red hair and sparkling green eyes. One of her hands was holding onto the man's and the other was resting on her sizeable belly. Naruto traced the photo with a feather light touch, tears creeping into his eyes.

"Tou-san... Kaa-chan..."

"She is really beautiful, isn't she?" a familiar voice sounded from behind Naruto.

The blond said nothing, but nodded in agreement. He felt a heavy hand clasp his shoulder, giving a squeeze. The steady breathing of the man behind him helped Naruto calm down, and he smiled at the picture.

"You are so much like her, Naruto. She would have been truly proud of you, they both would have."

Naruto nodded again. "I know. Hey, how come you don't have any photos of her?"

"Kushina hated cameras. It took Minato almost a month to get her to agree to that photo, and even then he had to bribe her with as much salt ramen as she wanted for a week. Honestly, I think that's where you got your addiction to it from. She ate so much ramen when she was pregnant with you she almost sent old Teuchi-san into retirement," Kenji explained with a chuckle.

Naruto turned and finally looked at Kenji. He had obviously been running at a fast pace, because his hair had been pushed back and was almost spiky. He grinned up at his father's best friend when he suddenly realized that his sword was missing. "Where is _Hisui_?"

"Hisui... Oh, I left it with an old friend of mine. I've been neglecting it ever since I retired, so I figured that while I was here, may as well get it touched up a bit. Now, do you want to keep exploring or call it a day?"

Naruto looked at the brunet as if he was crazy. Kenji chuckled and waved his arms towards the door rather extravagantly. Naruto nodded to himself and left the study, moving up to the last room of the hallway. It slid open to reveal a rather huge bathroom. The side closest to the door had a bathtub, shower, sink and mirror, everything a modern bathroom should have. And then taking up the other half of the bathroom was an _onsen, _a hot spring bath, designed to look like it was still in the outdoors. Kenji grinned and would have immediately gotten ready for a bath if it wasn't for the fact Naruto still wanted to explore.

Naruto ignored Kenji whining about the 'beautiful onsen' and dragged the older man back to the staircase. He went up and found the entire second floor was bedrooms; one master and four normal, each with a walk-in wardrobe and a different design on the fusuma. There was also another toilet close to the staircase. The pair wound their way back down to the staircase, and Naruto frowned. Either he found out what was behind the locked door, or he went outside for a bit. He made to ask Kenji's opinion but found the older man already opening the shoji that led outside.

Naruto came out and found himself on a rather large veranda, which connected to a long series of steps that led out to a lake. Naruto ignored all the desk furniture and started down the steps, taking in the beautiful autumn scenery and the large shiny koi dancing just under the surface of the water. Naruto's eyes trailed over to a waterfall that ran down from a gap that started on the other side of the house. His gaze shifted to the small house that stood next to the main compound, the two connected by a red arching bridge over a pond.

"This all belongs to you now, Naruto. The entire forest is the property of the Namikaze, and you are the sole heir," Kenji explained. "When you reach 17, or gain the rank of chunin, you will become the Namikaze clan head. Until then, you are the Namikaze heir. Sarutobi wanted me to explain that to you."

Naruto stared across at the fading sun, its dark rays glittering across the surface of the water. He smiled softly, his muscles relaxing as he drank in the site. This was his home now, and the locked room would have to wait until tomorrow. He wanted ramen.


	7. Chapter Three

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Three  
**_Trouble at the Exam_

* * *

Rushing water sounded in the over-sized bathroom, a constant scrubbing echoing off the walls. Naruto spat the minty froth in his mouth down the drain and proceeded to rinse his mouth out. Grinning into the mirror, he ran his tongue down his right elongated canine and almost cut it on the tip. He grabbed his mesh top and pulled over his head, shuffling it around a bit to get comfortable before he tugged on his shirt.

"Exams today..." he whispered. Picking up his necklace, he ran his finger along the scar before he slipped it around his neck and raised it to his lips. "Wish me luck, Nii-san."

Naruto silently padded out of the room and into the hallway, winding around until he got back to the entrance. Instead of heading out, he walked over to the fusuma opposite the exit and slid it open. He walked into a room that led out through a shoji to the Kazama house and had several shelves and cupboards. The shelves held his normal gear, whilst the cupboards housed pre-prepped mission packs that had different things depending on the level of mission. He grabbed his weapon holsters and ninja packs, but decided to forego his forearm armour. His fingers brushed the sheath of his ninjato and the two scrolls that lay next to it, but he left the room without picking any of them up.

The blond waved to Shigeru, the old man who was the 'head' of the Kazama, and giggled when his big bushy eyebrows waggled in acknowledgment. The old man was a bit of a jokester, something that Naruto appreciated as a prankster himself, but was very respectful of the Namikaze name. He assisted in Naruto's delivery and had also helped in Minato's birth as well, acting as the former Hokage's favourite uncle rather than servant.

He followed the path, enjoying the scenery not for the first time that week. He had taken to morning and evening walks before he ran laps around Konoha, and had both Chouji and Shikamaru around on occasion to play shogi or just watch clouds from the boardwalk over the lake. He had become fast friends with the two as well as Kiba, who had become unofficial sparring partner, and Shino, who enjoyed the peace and quiet of the forest. Naruto's chattiness when he opened up to people evened out with Shino's silence, and the pair had surprisingly intelligent conversations for 12 year olds.

Naruto broke through the line of trees and jumped the large fence, not bothering to unlock it and go through the gate. He strolled along the streets; waving to the few people he had met during his short week in Konoha. Old man Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame, the local blacksmith for ninja weapons, Higurashi Tenma, and his adopted daughter Tenten to name a few. Noticing a large crowd ahead, Naruto's eyes trailed over all the possible escapes. He got anxious around crowds, especially in Konoha.

Jumping up onto a nearby stall roof, he watched the goings on from his vantage point and was shocked at what he saw. Some fat, obviously wealthy, merchant was whipping a pair of street urchins. Blood bored from their arms, chests and faces, and if Naruto was right one of them was a young girl. Naruto's normally mirthful eyes hardened to the point they were a cold near-grey in colour and his chakra flared. A deep rumble came from the back of his throat and he bared his teeth, preparing to jump. The menacing growl echoed across the crowd and despite the fact that they were all civilians; they all felt the overwhelming chakra forcing down on them. The tiles under foot shattered as he took off, blurring in and out of vision slightly at the sheer force of the launch.

He slammed fist first into the merchant's stomach, sending him flying back into his stall with a resounding crash. Naruto was hunched over when the merchant finally got his breath back and had the strength to look up. The blond's head slowly turned up, revealing the most horrific sight the merchant had seen in his greedy life. Pure, unadulterated malice flooded a pair of eyes that were flickering between steely blue and blood red, long canines that seemed to drip with venom and three long whisker marks that were steadily getting deeper.

"D-d-demon! It's a demon! Help me!!"

Naruto took a lone step forward, and the entire crowd took a step back. The blond slowly raised his hand up until his arm was completely horizontal, a single clawed finger pointing at the merchant. In a deep, growling but steady voice, the blond spoke,

"**You are the demon here, filthy scum. Trash like you shouldn't be allowed to live, beating on little kids. I should rip your damn arms off, so you can never whip another person again.**"

Naruto's fingers slowly raised, one by one, until they were all bent slightly inwards, the claws almost touching one another. Cocking his arm back, Naruto shot forward again, a loud roar tearing its way from his throat. The crowd's blood ran cold as Naruto finally reached his mark; his arm swinging down towards the man's left shoulder. A blast of wind rocked the area, dust and leaves flying up and obscuring the scene from the villagers.

When the dust cleared a few seconds later, the crowd was shocked at what they saw. A brown haired man wearing something that looked like a black and gold kimono was standing slightly in front of the enraged blond, a katana in a jade sheath across Naruto's chest. Standing behind Naruto, holding onto the arm that was about to tear off the unlucky merchants arm and his other hand hooked under Naruto's other shoulder, was a masked Konoha Jounin, his slanted grey hair and hitai-ate covered eye standing out from the other Konoha shinobi that suddenly appeared either from rooftops and seemingly out of thin air.

Kenji's dark brown eyes smouldered with anger towards the entire situation, but he reigned it back in. He had an aggravated son to deal with.

"Naruto, you need to calm down. What does killing this man achieve in the long run?"

"**It'll show that Konoha doesn't stand for this kind of crap! Why the fuck did you stop me, old man!? Those kids deserve justice!**"

"This isn't justice, Naruto!" Kenji barked. "This is revenge. He will suffer the consequences of his actions, trust me. But it will happen the right way, through the Hokage. Have faith in Konoha, son."

Naruto's snarled at Kenji and tried to break the grip the silver haired man had him in. The Jounin winced when he felt the sheer strength of the child, but didn't let go. The blond roared and his eyes went completely red, his pupils becoming black vertical slits. Kenji swore under his breath and twirled his katana so he was holding it in a backhand grip. He slammed the pommel into Naruto's forehead, causing a sharp burst of blue light to erupt from both the end of the sword and the boys head. Naruto's eyes faded back to their normal cerulean before his body slackened and slumped into the Jounin holding him.

"Kakashi," Kenji began, "can you please take him to the Hokage." Kakashi nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Kenji pointed at two chunin he recognized from the gates a week ago. "You two, take those children to the hospital, now!" The pair nodded and picked up the children before taking to the rooftops.

"Thank you, kind sir. Thank you for saving me from that demon..." the merchant trailed off when he saw Kenji's face.

The swordsman picked up the fat merchant with a single hand, holding him by the scruff of his collar, his feet dangling above the ground. "I didn't save you. I saved my son. You will be meeting with a good friend of mine. Her name is Anko, perhaps you've heard of her?"

The merchant whimpered.

* * *

"How long will he be out?" Sarutobi questioned.

"Another half hour at most, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up sooner. He is growing resistant to this seal," Kenji replied. He brushed the blond locks away from his sons closed eyes and sighed. "I can't be there when he is on a mission, Sarutobi. He needs a sensei that both Jiraiya and I can trust, and one with knowledge of seals."

Sarutobi nodded and looked out the window overlooking Konoha. "Minato used to say 'The fire's shadow illuminates the village.' How is it then that I have lost touch with my village to the point where I don't even know when the people I try so hard to protect are being seriously injured?"

Kenji glanced across to his mentor's mentor and shrugged. "You can't be everywhere at once, old man. You can't know everything that happens, especially when you have to look after both the civilians and control the shinobi corps. When someone spends as much time as you do cooped up in his office with nothing but paperwork, your skills are bound to be slipping as well, no offence.

"Jiraiya and Tsunade tried to tell you to reform how the village is run, as did both Minato and I. Minato would have, but he died too shortly into his reign. It is not too late to make those changes, Hiruzen."

The Hokage nodded once more, seriously considering what Kenji had said. Of all the people he knew, he truly relied on three for advice. The first was his only pupil that didn't hate him to the point of leaving the village, Jiraiya. The second was once Jiraiya's pupil, Namikaze Minato. The third was the man standing in front of him. A man who was wise beyond his years and willing to tell things as they were; the man who should have taken the position of Hokage after Minato's death, Takezo Kenji.

"Don't tell me you are thinking about trying to make me Hokage again. It ain't gonna happen old man," Kenji said with a grin.

Sarutobi shook his head in the negative. "Just thinking in general... I am going to need help making these changes. Will you be willing to stay in Konoha for a while, to help me out? I know you don't want my hat, but you could easily take the place of one of my current advisors."

Kenji's brown eyebrow raised in thought. That wasn't actually a bad idea... He would be able to keep a closer eye on Naruto and at the same time he would be able to reinforce the ideals he, Minato and even Jiraiya had for the village. It might even convince Tsunade to come back. But, it wasn't up to him really.

"You'll have to give me a week or two before I decide. There is the farm to think about, Miyamoto and most importantly Haruhi-chan's decision. Ultimately, if she says she doesn't want to live in Konoha, I will stick by her."

"Of course," the old Hokage agreed.

Kenji walked up and clapped the old man on the back. "You know, if you want the rest of the village to accept these changes, you can't afford to be the 'old man' anymore. You need to once again take up your place as the God of Shinobi; The Professor, who knows every jutsu within the walls of Konoha and then some."

A croaky question came from across the room. "Who knows every jutsu in Konoha?"

"Certainly not you, foolish boy. What were you thinking back there?"

Naruto shook his head, trying to clear the haze that had settled across his mind. Slowly but surely the days previous events came back to him. Right up to Kenji activating the suppressor seal on the end of _Hisui. _He glanced down at his hand and noticed his nails back to normal, but his mind superimposed the clawed hand over it. Naruto clenched his fist tightly in an attempt to destroy the image.

"Why did it happen, Tou-san? Why now... Why today, of all possible days? Shouldn't Jiraiya's tinkering have stopped that chakra? The village will know who I am soon enough, if they hadn't already figured it out."

Kenji stared at his best friend's son with a mixture of sympathy sorrow. It wasn't fair that such a young boy had to shoulder such a heavy burden. "It's up to you Naruto. You haven't become an official ninja yet, we can still leave."

Naruto's gaze flickered over to Sarutobi. The old man had a look of disappointment but acceptance, as if he knew Naruto would say he wanted to leave. He looked back towards Kenji and found his face a blank slate. The blond frowned and closed his eyes, falling easily into that state of meditation he found so relaxing. He weighed the pros and cons of staying. He had been training to be a ninja his entire life; it was the only thing he knew. However, dealing with an entire village who despised your very existence seemed far too great a burden to bear. The image of the Fourth slipped into his mind, along with his mother, Kushina. He imagined them staring proudly at him, supporting whatever decision he made.

A long, slow breath escaped Naruto's slightly parted lips as his eyes opened. "I'll stay. I know nothing outside of being a ninja, and shinobi blood runs through my veins. It seems that even if I didn't want to be a ninja, I am forced to it."

Sarutobi's face brightened considerably, however Kenji merely nodded, the blank look still in place.

"Then you best be off," Kenji started. "Your exams start in two minutes."

Before either of the men could blink, there was a blur of yellow and then nothing, only the suddenly open window banging against the outside wall. Kenji shut his eyes and frowned. It was going to be a long few weeks.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

Iruka looked around at the graduating class, surprised that the blond wasn't there. Normally Naruto was early for everything, generally paid attention and had an actual sense of humour, unlike most of the rest of the class. In Iruka's eyes, he had quickly risen from 'that demon brat' to 'favourite student' in the time span of a week. Now, on the day he had actually come back to Konoha for, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Last call, Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka repeated.

A shadow flew right under Mizuki's nose, making the silver haired Chunin jump back in shock. The shadow quickly formed into the visage of Iruka's missing student. The blond was panting, and sweat was dripping from his chin.

"Running that fast... really hurts..." he got out between pants. "But I'm not too late, am I Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka shook his head in the negative. "Right on time, join the rest of the class on the bleachers."

Iruka continued through the last two names on the class roll, and nodded to himself. A full class, they would have to be split between himself and Mizuki for the Taijutsu portion of the exam. Turning his wandering gaze too his class, Iruka took in the looks of anticipation, excitement and joy that was present even in Sasuke's eyes. Snapping his folder shut with a _snap, _he grinned broadly at the class and had their immediate attention.

"Welcome to the Genin exam, Class 3-A, I expect all of you to pass today. So I will wish you all the very best of luck and hand over to Mizuki-sensei."

Mizuki stepped forward. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei. Now then class, the exams will be split into four different portions. The first is to test your _Shurikenjutsu_, which will be graded on accuracy and speed with both kunai and shuriken. Following which will be the _Taijutsu _segment of the exam, where you will spar against either me or Iruka-sensei. After which is the written exam, which will be held in the auditorium. The fourth and final part section is your _Ninjutsu_. You will find out which jutsu when you are called for that part of the exam."

"Thank you, Mizuki-sensei. Now then, if you would all make you way to the range, we can get to work."

The class made their way over to the usual throwing range, which had been outfitted recently specifically for the exam. Normally it was just a bunch of trees, stumps and logs that had targets either attached or painted on to them. Now, it had wooden dummies, moving targets that ran along wire, pop up targets that you had to hit in the short amount of time it was there. Naruto's finger itched towards the steel push button that held his weapons pouch closes, his entire body shaking in anticipation. He would ace the exam, and then his life could truly begin.

Iruka called the students in alphabetical order via their surname. One by one, the soon-to-be ninja stepped up and took the throwing weapons provided by Mizuki. Iruka stood off slightly to one side, making notations in his folder and was the one who went to check the targets before the next student came up. Slowly but surely the number of students waiting dwindled down until there was only three remaining. Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino.

Sasuke was the first to step up, taking the provided kunai and shuriken from Mizuki with his usual smirk. Iruka clicked his stopwatch just as the course started up, and Sasuke's attention focused in on the targets. _Thud, thud, thud_; the first three targets went down in the first second. Naruto studied the Uchiha carefully, watching the slight twitch in his arms and wrist just before he threw his next shuriken. Although he couldn't see them directly, he could picture Sasuke's eyes snapping from one target to the next without blinking. If it weren't for his attitude, Naruto could really picture being best friends with Sasuke. Being rivals was the closest he would probably ever get to being friends with the Uchiha, and Naruto accepted his position with a mere smile.

Iruka's voice broke through Naruto's musing, and the blond stood up and made his way down the stone bleachers. He passed Sasuke, whose smirk grew even wider when they looked at each other, and Naruto grinned. The challenge had been made, and now Naruto needed to match the Uchiha's perfect score. Naruto took the shuriken and kunai from Mizuki, whose grimace was enough to confirm Naruto's earlier suspicion. People knew his status as a Jinchuuriki.

His nostrils flared as in took a deep breath, clearing his mind of his problems and focussing on the test at hand. His eyes narrowed and his muscles fell into a state of relaxed readiness. Being too tense would slow his reaction time, but relaxing too much would throw it off as well. Iruka pushed down on his stopwatch just as the course started up, not saying a word. In the field, ninja wouldn't get a heads up when a target was about to appear, so this would be no different.

A target snapped upwards from behind a rock, followed quickly by a dummy sliding out from the other side of the field and a second target moving across the course on a zip line. Naruto's arms became a blur, dark streaks of grey flying from his fingertips. _Thunk, thud, thud, crash. _A kunai was so deeply pierced through the first target the tip could be seen from the other side. The target was made of thick, solid Konoha lumber, so it was quite a feat for a Genin. Two shuriken were buried into the dummy, one right between the eyes and the other were the heart of an actual human would be. The target from the zip line was lying on the floor of the range, broken into three pieces.

Naruto heard Iruka sigh in annoyance, and he couldn't help but grin. Sasuke had broken the zip line target as well. More targets popped up, and Naruto kept up his perfect performance. By the time he was finished, a single grain of sweat had appeared on his forehead, and the range in front of him was littered with kunai and shuriken all in bullseye places. Iruka waved him off, a proud smile on his face, and Naruto made his way to where Shikamaru and the gang were sitting. As he passed Sasuke, who was sitting on his own, he nodded toward the Uchiha. Onyx eyes lingered on his own cerulean before Sasuke nodded back, his brooding expression breaking into a smile for a second.

Naruto grinned and ran along to the gang, Shino and Chouji congratulating him on his perfect performance, Shikamaru merely smiling. Kiba glared at Naruto for a minute before he clapped the blond on the back.

"So, blondie... What was that little thing between you and the Uchiha?" Kiba questioned, his loud voice ringing in Naruto's ears.

Said blond merely shrugged and cleaned his ear out with his pinkie. "Don't know what you're talking about, dog breath."

* * *

The Taijutsu portion went a little differently. Alternatively, the students would fight Iruka or Mizuki whilst the other teacher stood towards the side and acted as referee while at the same time taking notes. At the end of each bout, the two teachers had a quiet chat outside of earshot, during which the students had enough time to gossip amongst each other about the fight.

Names weren't being called in alphabetical order, either. Iruka seemed to be picking students at random. Naruto noticed one thing however; all of the clan heirs, himself included, were being left until last for some reason. When the final match with Haruno Sakura ended, Naruto finally realized why. Several large sources of chakra appeared on the other side of the training dojo. Naruto's eyes flicked up towards where he thought the newcomers were, but found nothing but a wall. Frowning, Naruto turned back to the match, which was now Mizuki versus Shino. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end though; He knew someone else was in the room, someone that wasn't supposed to be there.

* * *

Kakashi's eyebrow was raised in amusement, and Kenji was smiling proudly towards his son. The two men had decided to forgo the Hokage's crystal ball room; the amount of smoke in there was suffocating, and had come directly to the dojo. Kakashi, to see how good his new students were outside of a report, and Kenji, to see the next generation of Konoha shinobi; although he also wanted to watch Naruto's fight in person. That boy could pull some strange but effective moves out of thin air at times.

Said blond's blue eyes had just trailed over both senior ninja, although their camouflage technique had done its job and Naruto was none the wiser. The two watched as the clan heirs stood up for their matches. There were four students remaining, the Nara child, the Hyuuga heiress, the Yamanaka girl and Naruto when Kenji suddenly snapped to attention, his hand already on his sword's handle. Kakashi sniffed the air a few times and smiled, before placing a hand on the retired Jounin's shoulder.

In a hushed voice, so as to not attract attention, he explained. "Just let things carry on. No one will get hurt, too badly. The Hokage's council and Danzo have been pushing for a harder Genin exam for years. The political pressure was getting to the point where Hokage-sama had to act soon. He decided to enact it this year. It's just a test, but the kids don't know that. Let it play out."

Kenji frowned. Why the hell hadn't he been told then? Leaning back against the wall, he glared at Mizuki, who in turn was glaring at Naruto. Kakashi noticed that his sensei's partner's hand never left his sword.

* * *

"Uzumaki Naru-"

Iruka was suddenly cut off by a kunai sticking out of his neck. The chunin dropped to the ground, seemingly dead, and Mizuki was soon to follow, three shuriken sticking out of his back. The majority of the class screamed, and tried to run for the doors, but found it blocked by three unknown ninja, wrapped in black garb from head to toe, leaving only a slit for their eyes. Several more appeared from the windows, standing over the bodies of Iruka and Mizuki.

The final ninja appeared slowly in the middle of the room, as if coming out of a mist or haze, who definitely the leader. He was dressed in the same black garb as the rest of the ninja, but he had a red cowl around his neck and strapped over his back was a ninjato. Naruto could almost see the smirk under that mask. He lifted his hand; first and second fingers rose and signalled towards the students. The group shinobi rushed forward, producing kunai and other knives, but didn't throw them.

The class huddled up onto the stands, trying to get as far away as possible. The clan heirs stood forward, along with, surprisingly, Haruno Sakura. Naruto reached over his shoulder for his sword when he realized he didn't bring it with him.

"Fuck!"

Kiba launched forward, he and Akamaru already looking like feral twins, and Chouji had gone double size and was rolling forward like a bowling ball. Shino raised his arms sending a massive wave of kikai bugs towards the students behind him, which turned into a sort of wall. Shikamaru was standing next to Shino, defending Kiba and Chouji as much as possible with his shadow and ranged attacks. Ino had paired up with Sakura, and the pair had dashed forward in a flurry of yellow and pink. Naruto watched was amazement, the girl he thought was probably the most useless in the class was actually a pretty good kunoichi. Sakura's chakra control was to the point where even her standard clones seemed real.

Clones! That's it. Naruto raised his fingers into a cross-shaped seal and called forth a group of clones. Assigning them to protect the group that wasn't fighting, he dashed forward to take on a ninja of his own. Sasuke was fighting one of the ninja just in front of his own mark, the leader.

With an amazing amount of agility, Naruto barrel rolled under Sasuke and used his hands to launch forward into a drop kick. The red cowled shinobi simply side stepped the kick, surprised when a kunai cut his cheek. He looked at the blond, whose arm was now extended and he was crouching on the ground. The leader's eyes narrowed.

'_Damn Jinchuuriki brat will get what's coming to him now.'_

He launched forward, two kunai appearing in his hands, and went on the assault. Naruto bobbed and weaved, avoiding the kunai slashes as much as possible, trying to find an opening. Every now and then he managed to get a hit in, using a slightly modified form of the academy style Taijutsu. Ducking low under a wild cut, he slipped a kunai of his own from his holster and tried to slash the man's legs, only to have him jump over the attack. Naruto, standing on his hands, slammed his heel backwards and up into the leader's stomach, sending him even higher into the air.

The man spun around. When his front came back into view, three shuriken were in each hand. He threw them at the blond with frightening speed, forcing the blond to the ground to avoid them. He rolled and stood up only to find himself in range of another kunai assault. He had to find a way to beat this guy.

And then he saw it in the form of Sasuke, who was preparing a jutsu no Genin aside from himself should have the chakra capacity for.

"Sasuke, aim at me!"

Sasuke looked around just as he finished the seals for his jutsu, spewing a giant fireball towards the blond. Naruto watched it come with a smile and spiralled into the leader, taking care to avoid the kunai. Latching onto the man's arms, he twisted him around and aimed the man's back towards the oncoming fireball. A feral grin twisted across Naruto's face, showing his fangs. The oncoming flame lit up his eyes which held a glint of vengeance in them.

"Burn, bastard."

The flame hit the man's back and continued around until it enveloped both Naruto and the leader. The clothes slowly burnt off the man, revealing the wide eyed form of... Mizuki!?

Naruto's brain kicked into overdrive, his hand whipping out towards the flames. They were suddenly pushed back before they died out, leaving an untouched Naruto and a severely burnt Mizuki in the middle of the room. The rest of the fighting was over, the ninja revealing themselves as the instructors of the Academy. Kiba had several fresh bruises and cuts, but Chouji was seemingly unharmed. Sakura and Ino both sported new shiners, and both girls were holding their ribs. Sasuke was unharmed except for a single, tiny cut across his left shoulder. Shino and Shikamaru were both fine. What surprised Naruto was the Hyuuga girl.

From what he had seen for the past week, the girl was rather shy and lacked a lot of confidence. But she was standing over three knocked out bodies, the veins around her pale white eyes sticking out and pulsing. Her jaw was clenched and her back straight, as if she were proud of knocking out three instructors. Naruto grinned, he would be too.

Several of the instructors came rushing over to Mizuki, grabbing him and rushing him out of the room, assumedly to the hospital. Naruto dropped to the ground, his fire manipulation technique taking its toll. Every time he used it, he felt drained in both body and mind. The first time he had used it, he had passed out for three days. Kenji had trained him carefully in its use, and now he could use it without passing out, but only just barely. They had assumed it was either an unknown bloodline limit from his mother, or one more 'gift' of being the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi.

Kenji stood silently at the other of the room, his face blank. Kakashi shuddered and shuffled away a bit. Every time he had seen that face as a kid, or even as an adult, it meant someone was in trouble. It was usually him, but this time he knew exactly who was going to be on the receiving end of Kenji's wrath. The Hokage.

* * *

The rest of the exams went without incident. The injured got treated before the few students that hadn't run out of the academy attended the written exam. The jutsu portion was bad for Naruto; he was forced to make more shadow clones since his normal clones still stank. He was already feeling weak because of the fire manipulation, so he could only manage three with a decent amount of effort. It still managed to impress Iruka, who couldn't even use the Shadow Clone technique.

Naruto stared at the forehead protector he was presented with; the Konoha leaf emblazoned on the metal plate glinted brightly. He was finally a ninja, and in a couple of weeks he would be on a team and completing missions for the village. A soft smile wound its way across his face, as he carefully tied the forehead protector around his forehead in a manner that let his blond locks fall over the front of it.

* * *

Kenji stormed out of Sarutobi's office, his black and gold robes flaring behind him. The jade green obi, which was tied into a rather extravagant but still manly bow at the back, whipped around behind him like a tail. Damn that old man, damn him to hell and back!

He had recognized the look in Mizuki's eyes when Naruto engaged him. That look of hatred and disgust, the one he hadn't seen for over 9 years, when he had taken Naruto from this forsaken village. What in Inari's name was he thinking when he brought the boy back here?

Yelling in frustration, he punched the wall closest to him. His fist went straight through the plaster, luckily missing the framework within the wall. Yanking his arm back, he blew the dust from his knuckles and glared back towards the wooden door that barred the Hokage's office. He would have to take up a position as council now; Konoha could not be allowed to run like this. Over half the graduating class had left after that little stunt, effectively halving the new generation of ninja.

Taking a few deep breaths, Kenji counted backwards from ten, calming himself down. He needed to get back to the estate and see how Naruto was doing.

The brunet was running along a power line, one of the many that ran across the village, when he noticed a flash of yellow in a nearby restaurant. Coming to a halt, he turned slightly so he could get a better look through the window. Sure enough, Naruto was in a Korean barbecue restaurant, surrounded by the rest of the clan heirs and the Haruno girl. What surprised him was Sasuke's presence, sitting slightly away from everyone else but still with the group. Looks like the Hokage had been right about one thing. Naruto's natural ability to change people had worked on even the stoic Uchiha.

Shaking his head in amusement and pride, Kenji left the group to their celebration dinner. He would go and pack his things and leave tomorrow morning. There were a few people he needed to talk to, none of which resided in Konoha.


	8. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Four  
**_Survival Exam, Kakashi Style!_

* * *

An eagle soared overhead, its harsh cry echoing over the land. The raging yellow sun looked to be cooking the rocky mountain below, a hot sizzling sound coming from many of the rocks and outcrops. If one was to look carefully, they would be able to make out a wooden structure atop the mountain. Grasshoppers chirped and insects buzzed around, the cold blooded animals like snakes and lizards were out on the hot rocks enjoying the heatwave. A figure, barely discernable to any ordinary human due to the haze of heat in the air, flew up from a part of the mountain that had plateaued. He landed on one of the first outcrops in a series that wound up the mountain.

Kenji huffed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. Rolling his shoulder, the man shifted his backpack into a more comfortable position before he focused chakra through his feet. Using the sudden force, Kenji seemed to almost fly up from his small chunk of sizzling rock to another, slightly larger one. A hissing sound drew his attention, and he looked down to find a rather large lizard trying to run away. Kenji had accidently landed on its tail.

Picking up his foot just enough for the reptile to get free, he watched as it scurried off towards the edge of the outcrop. Not a second later, the eagle from before swopped down and caught the critter between its talons, its wings beating heavily to push away from the ground. Kenji shook his head and watched the beautiful creature fly away, the unlucky lizard wriggling in its grasp.

He glanced up at the sun, trying to discern the time. It was nearing midday, and he still had half a mountain to climb. Why the hell did _he _have to set up camp on top of this mountain, of all possible places?

* * *

Naruto stared at the wooden door. He had been avoiding going in there for almost two weeks now, but today he was finally going to find out what was behind it. Shigeru and Kaede, Shigeru's granddaughter, were out visiting the Ichirakus. Examining the lock for a moment, Naruto found the corresponding key on his keychain and unlocked the door. Seals lit up, similar to the ones that covered the outside of the house, before fading away a minute later.

The door creaked as it opened, giving the darkness beyond an even more eerie feeling to it. Naruto stepped forward into the darkness, and found it was a set of stairs that led down into what he assumed was a basement. As he walked, torches lit up along either side of the staircase, barely there seals grafted into the edges of them. Naruto recognized part of one as a sensory seal, and figured there must also be a fire generation seal somewhere as well. Once the sensory seal picked up someone's presence, the torches must light up, and die out once the person left the sensory seal's range.

'_That's pretty clever. Creepy as hell, but clever,' _thought Naruto.

He finally reached the end of the stairs, and judging from the lack of windows guessed he was now underground. He took a step into the new room and immediately the place lit up, not with torches but with strange seals that Naruto didn't recognize. They emitted as much light as a standard electric light, and revealed the contents of the room.

Scattered along the walls were shelves, filled to the brim with scrolls and books of all kinds. There were locked cupboards, scrolls thicker than both of Naruto's legs together, and paintings spread throughout the room as well. Standing in the middle of the room was a podium, a thick book sitting atop it. Ahead of the podium, against the furthest wall, was a kind of stand that held a formal black kimono, white obi and a _haori, _a formal jacket worn with a kimono. The haori had the Namikaze _mon, _crest, emblazoned on either side of the breast. The mirror behind the stand revealed a larger version of the crest on the back of the jacket as well.

Stepping up to the podium, Naruto's hand reached out for the book on instinct. His fingers traced the bronze crest in the middle of the hard cover. Opening the book, the first page had no fancy decorations or paintings, but beautiful calligraphy writing.

_Tales of the Creed – History of the Namikaze  
_

Naruto stared at the words. This was his clan's history, and this basement must have been the clan archives. He turned the page, surprised at the condition of the book. He didn't even know what the material was; some kind of paper maybe, but it wasn't the paper used by those days standard. Naruto took the book down from the podium and sat on the ground, his legs folded under him. He was going to read this, even if it took him all week.

_In an age of war, chaos and destruction, ninja were the tools of daimyos, selling their skills to the highest bidder. Clans existed, not of families, but of ninja with similar skills. Eventually, these ninja turned into the families that are known as Clan's today. We, the Namikaze, were no different, having no relation by blood whatsoever. However, we were unique in how we formed the clan. None of our skills were the same, and we all came from different parts of the land._

_We were all lone ninja, all extremely skilled, and we were some of the richest known through the land. Each one of us was hired by a daimyo that controlled a series of islands off the east coast. Our mission was simple, take over the mainland directly opposite the islands. It was in a tsunami of blood that the clan was born. We slaughtered hundreds of innocent people that, to this day, still haunt my dreams._

_It was the fact the daimyo had an entire army of soldiers waiting to kill us once we returned that we took over the islands, now known as the Land of Waves. We piled the bodies of the soldiers we killed that night on a hillside, their daimyo atop it, and burnt the remains. We became the leaders of Wave, and we took on a creed. We would become an undefeatable clan, one that specialized in all aspects of combat. However, we were like the ocean. Calm, benevolent almost for the majority of the time, but when stirred we took no prisoners, and destroyed everything in our path. We took the title of Namikaze, Of Waves and Wind, due to our position as leaders of Wave, and the fact that all of us held the natural ability to manipulate the element of wind._

_Namikaze Gennosuke  
Head of the Namikaze_Naruto was fascinated by his clan's history. What surprised him though was how the book was written. He had seen the Sarutobi family scroll, and it was all written by one person in the third person. However, this was more like a journal, and each new passage was written by a different person. Naruto quickly became immersed in the book, and would be sitting in the archives for a while yet.

* * *

Kakashi frowned. He was having a hell of a day. First, he was late for a meeting with the Hokage, and not because he was at the memorial stone, but because he was up all night reading and overslept. And then, after finding out his future team, he went to check up on them. Sasuke was the easiest; the boy was just training in the forest that edged the Uchiha sector. He was beaten half to death following Sakura, when he was accidently caught watching the female side of the hot springs from a tree. At least he got some valuable information from both trips.

The first was that Sasuke was obsessed with power, specifically to kill his brother, and would be willing to go to any lengths to get it. The boy also talked to himself when he thought no one was around, not exactly stable in Kakashi's book. And Sakura was more focused on how she looked than her training. At least Sasuke wasn't a liability in a fight, but Sakura would be nothing but dead weight. She had spent the entire day before going to the bath house either searching for Sasuke or looking at some new fad diet in the local chemist.

And now, to add more onto his plate, he couldn't find his third soon-to-be student, Uzumaki Naruto, anywhere. He had searched the restaurants, training grounds and shinobi stores all around Konoha and found neither head nor tail of the blond. He had searched the Namikaze grounds and still not found the boy. The only place he hadn't searched was the Namikaze compound itself, and that was because he didn't have a key. He knew from experience what the seals surrounding that house did, and quite frankly he didn't want to be fried to a crisp anytime soon.

So yeah, Kakashi was having a bad day. He knew that it was getting late, and he would be expected at the Jounin longue soon. It was his shout tonight after losing a bet to Gai. He started towards the trees when he heard the sound of a door sliding open. Looking around, he saw his missing Genin and sighed in annoyance. Just when he decided to leave, the boy shows up.

'_Annoying brat.'_

The silver haired Jounin disappeared into the trees, taking care not to leave any sign of his presence behind. This kid had been trained by Kenji, so it wouldn't surprise him if he had above average skills. He watched with interest as the blond walked to a grassy clearing just off from the clearing the house was in. He was carrying a ninjato in his left hand and a scroll in the other.

'_Training?'_ Kakashi mentally questioned.

Kakashi watched for at least an hour, mesmerized by how Naruto trained. First, he summoned one shadow clone, which took exactly half the boy's chakra, and then they sparred. There was no fancy footwork, no flashy or graceful moves. Everything he did was effective, brutally so, and economic. He wasted no energy. He never overextended. He used rather odd techniques that while seemingly ridiculous at first were vicious when carried through. This fighting style was reminiscent of Kenji's, but at the same time completely different. Kenji used a katana, his footwork was graceful and he delivered powerful attacks that conserved his energy. However, both father and adopted son used the same techniques, just slightly modified for the shorter ninjato, and both could absolutely decimate an enemy. It was amazing that a child no older than 13 could wield a sword to such an extent.

His single eye glanced up towards the sky and he almost swore. He was going to be late to the bar. Oh well, not like they weren't used to it. Looking one more time at Naruto, he smiled in anticipation. He couldn't wait until the end of the week.

* * *

Blue eyes were locked with brown, sparks flying between the pair. Nostrils flared and steam seemed to fly from them, the motion repeated by the counterpart. One stomp, then another, and the blue eyes finally turned skyward as their own screamed in frustration.

"FINE! Alright already! I'll show you the technique, sheesh!"

The little brown eyed boy smirked in triumph, his arms folding across his chest and his nose turning up toward the clouds. Naruto's eyebrow twitched and he promptly rapped his knuckles across the boy's head.

"Don't act all high and might, Konohamaru. I'm only teaching you because I will be an official ninja tomorrow, so I won't be able to use this technique as much."

Konohamaru pouted for a moment but perked up when Naruto started to walk away, waving his hand over his shoulder for the 'Honourable Grandson' to follow. The pair walked along the streets of Konoha, Naruto pointing out the beautiful women and how they looked. He snuck Konohamaru into the adult section of the magazine store, and showed him the swimsuit models and the latest edition of _Kunoichi Weekly, _which showed the latest in kunoichi fashion, all of their models deadly beautiful. After their attempt to sneak into the hot springs for the final bit of research, actual naked women, Naruto had been beaten to the point where he could barely walk.

After that incident, Naruto decided they had researched enough and he took off for one of the less used training grounds, which doubled as a park on certain days of the week. Thankfully, today was not one of those days and the two boys had the entire grounds to themselves.

He had promised Sarutobi that he would look after Konohamaru for a little while today, since Ebisu and Asuma were out on missions and not due back until that night. The kid's parents had died when he was young, maybe a year old. Thankfully, he didn't remember it all that well, and still had his uncle and grandfather to look after him. Naruto stopped reminiscing and turned to face the annoying situation at hand. The damn brat had pestered Naruto to teach him the jutsu he had used on Sarutobi a few days ago when he wanted to share lunch with the old man. The blood loss had made him woozy and agreeable to whatever Naruto suggested. Naruto got a free meal, and the Hokage ended up with an empty wallet.

"Right then," Naruto stated, "this is my original technique! Treat it with as much respect as you would your own! Watch carefully now!"

Naruto's fingers nimbly ran through the seals for his jutsu. Finishing on the ram, he smirked at Konohamaru before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. In his place was a naked, voluptuous, curvy blonde with long slender legs and a set of d-size breasts. Her finger was against her lip, biting her fingernail in a rather adorable manner. Konohamaru nodded, taking in the details of the jutsu with many choruses 'Oh!' and 'I see.'

The transformation dropped, revealing the fully equipped Naruto. Ever since the surprise test at the Academy, he had taken to carrying his ninjato or scroll-sealed katana and broadsword with him at all times. A proud smile on his face, he declared the name of his technique.

"Uzumaki Prank Art Number One: Sexy technique!"

Konohamaru nodded, his eyes burning with determination. "My turn, my turn!"

The boy made the seals necessary for the transformation. A cloud of smoke later, an obese brunette was winking towards Naruto. Shuddering, the blond shook his head and told the boy to try again. The second attempt wasn't any better and Naruto mentally whimpered. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

"Old man! Old man!"

Sarutobi sighed and looked up from his calligraphy. He was thankful that Naruto could distract Konohamaru for a few hours, but it was his fate to suffer the 'assassination' attempts of his grandson. Turning around on his cushion, he took a long draw on his pipe and prepared himself to get up and help his grandson, who would inevitably trip on his scarf. Again.

Konohamaru burst through the sliding doors and smirked, raising his hands that were held in the ram seal. Sarutobi's eyes narrowed.

'_Jutsu...? No, not _that_ one!'_

"Uzumaki Prank Art Number One: Sexy technique: Konohamaru version!"

A seductive young brunette took a few steps towards the Sandaime, her breasts jiggling with each step. Sarutobi's eyebrow twitched once. Twice. Thrice. And a torrent of blood poured from his nose, sending the old man crashing into his calligraphy. The technique fell away from Konohamaru, who was holding his arm out, his fingers held in a 'V' for victory.

Elsewhere, Naruto felt a cold chill run down his spine and he immediately regretted teaching Konohamaru that jutsu.

* * *

Iruka walked into the academy, a wide grin on his face and more relaxed than he had been all year. For the last two weeks, he had been relaxing in a resort a few miles from Konoha, famed for its hot springs ability to heal the body and the soul. After two weeks of soaking, reading his favourite books and just overall enjoying himself, he was once again ready to face his duty as a sensei one last time before being reassigned while the academy was out.

He walked through the empty halls, remembering the times with his class from their first year through to now. He approached the classroom and smiled, he could hear them through the walls. Only a third of the original class had passed the test, and now they would be split into their teams to begin their career as ninja of Konoha.

Sliding the open door, he was shocked that he immediately had their attention. Normally it took at least five minutes of shouting to get them to settle down. He saw them all smiling proudly, their forehead protectors gleaming in the sunlight that shone through the large window. Most were wearing the strips of cloth and metal around their forehead, but some had them around their arms and necks. A few even used them as belts. Shaking his head with a small grin, he made his way over to the podium and glanced down at the roster he had carried in with him.

"Alright then, I won't go over how proud I am of you. I gave you that speech two weeks ago. Today, you will be separated into three man cells and assigned to a Jounin sensei. Now then, Team One is..."

Iruka continued through the list until he finally reached the last three teams. "Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke will make up Team Seven. Your Jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto bowed his head in acceptance. It was an odd setup, but he was used to being unpredictable. It was one of his finer traits. Sasuke looked as nonchalant as ever, as if the news meant absolutely nothing to him. Only Naruto and Iruka noticed the slight upturned corner of his lips. Sakura was screaming with delight, chanting something about love conquers all, and Ino was screaming that she would kill Sakura.

"Team Eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Your sensei is Yuhi Kurenai. Team Nine is still in circulation from last year. Team Ten will be Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino, under Sarutobi Asuma."

Naruto looked up at that. He didn't know Asuma was going to be one of this year's sensei. He suddenly felt very sorry for Team 10. Asuma was one of the laziest people he knew, but he always showed up on time. Not a minute after that thought, Asuma walked through the door with a black haired woman with crimson coloured eyes. Naruto immediately placed her as Yuhi Kurenai.

One by one, the teams were taken away until there was no one left in the room except for Team 7. Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance, and decided to flex his prankster muscle a bit. Whoever Hatake Kakashi was, he was going to cop it when he got here. Sakura watched with barely veiled enthusiasm and Sasuke looked on with mild interest as Naruto went back and forth between the storeroom and the classroom. Naruto's prank started out simple, but gradually got more and more complex to the point where even Sasuke was impressed with it.

Now all they had to do was sit and wait.

* * *

Kakashi slid open the door to the classroom, figuring he had made his team wait long enough. Immediately, his danger sense kicked it, but he ignored it in favour of looking at his team. Sasuke was sitting off to the far side of the room, staring through the window with that brooding look of his. Sakura was trying to get Sasuke to go on a date with her, with little success. And Naruto was sitting atop the desk in the back corner of the room, running a whetstone along the blade of his sword.

He took a step into the room and went to speak, when his danger sense started to scream at him. He noticed a sliver of light reflect off something attached to Naruto's sword, before it disappeared with a _twang. _A bucket, filled with pink paint, dropped onto the Jounin's head. Sasuke yanked a cord, and several pillows shattered over him, covering him in down. If that wasn't enough, a duster came flying at him from the blackboard and smacked into the side of his head, causing Kakashi to look around and see a second Naruto flipping a second duster in his hand.

Kakashi glared at all three of his students, ignoring the clone with the duster. "My first impression is, I hate you. Get up to the roof."

The Jounin disappeared in a swirl of leaves, heading towards his apartment. He would get changed and then join his team once again.

* * *

"Right then," said a newly showered Kakashi, "since we are going to be a team, how about we introduce ourselves, hmm?"

"Kakashi-sensei, how do you want us to do that?" Sakura asked, her hand slightly raised.

Kakashi's eye curved upward into a weird kind of upside down 'v'. "Tell us your name, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, things like that. And you don't need to raise your hand, you aren't a student anymore."

Sakura giggled nervously and put her hand back down, "Why don't you go first, sensei? Give us something to go off?"

Kakashi blinked once, before shrugging in an 'I guess so' kind of manner. "Well, I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate... guess I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future... never really taken the time to think about it. As for my hobbies... well I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. That told them nothing aside from his name, which they already knew. Naruto shook his head in a kind of amusement, causing Kakashi to do that eye-smile thing of his and look across at the blond.

"Okay, you can go first blondie."

Naruto shrugged and nodded. "Okay, well I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen, swords, family and training. I dislike people who treat family and loved ones as trash, and people who don't appreciate the value of hard work. My hobbies.. collecting antique swords, gardening and finding new jutsu to use in conjunction with my sword. Dreams for the future... Not sure really. Make my parents and loved ones proud I guess."

Kakashi nodded, kind of glad he had at least one normal person on his team, even if he did have a demon sealed in his gut. Turning to Sakura, he waited patiently for her to start. When he realized she was too busy staring at Sasuke, he sighed and cleared his throat. "Pinkie... your turn."

Sakura tore her star struck eyes from Sasuke and glared at Kakashi for a second before speaking. "I'm Haruno Sakura. I like..." giggle. "I hate Ino-pig! I like memorizing facts and collecting things..." her eyes trailed to Sasuke for a minute. "In the future I want to marry..." another round of giggling ensued.

Kakashi and Naruto sighed in unison. They had both seen how well she performed during the fake attack on the academy, utilizing the basics to their fullest extent, but now she was just some annoying fan girl. How could someone's personality change so quickly?

"Okay, brooder, you're up."

Sasuke turned his glare onto Kakashi, having no effect whatsoever. "Hn. My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much and I dislike a lot. My hobby is training. My dream, no... More of an ambition is to kill a certain man and rebuild my clan."

Kakashi nodded. It was obvious to him, who Sasuke was talking about, but Naruto looked confused and Sakura was once again staring at Sasuke with nothing but adoration in her eyes. The Jounin wondered how long it would take to snap her out of her fan-girl phase, and hoped that he could manage it before the team started to go on more serious missions outside the village.

"Well then, meet me tomorrow morning at training ground seven, five a.m., for a survival exam."

Sakura's head snapped around to face her sensei. "But, we already did survival training in the academy, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's eye smile turned almost sinister. "Not this survival exam you haven't. If you fail this, you fail as a Genin. You will be sent back to the academy. Make sure you come prepared. Oh, and don't eat breakfast, you'll just puke."

Sakura's harsh shriek of 'WHAT!?' signified Kakashi's queue to exit. Naruto looked at where Kakashi was standing a moment ago, his eyes slightly wider than normal. That _shunshin _technique was fast. Way faster than his own was. Turning to his new team, Naruto figured he may as well try to get to know them better than he did. After all, he had only met them just shy of a month ago.

"Sakura, Sasuke, do you want to go grab something to eat?"

Sasuke grunted and walked away, Sakura following him, crying about a date. Naruto sighed and hung his head. So much for that idea. Maybe he could go hang out with Shikamaru and Chouji, they were bound to need comfort food after being stuck with Ino.

* * *

Kenji drank deeply from the tea that had been offered to him. He had to leave today; it had taken him a week to convince _him _to come down from his mountain. The sun was hidden today, and the air was starting to cool in the changing months. He drained the cup dry and carefully placed it back onto the serving tray. The pottery was a work of art; he didn't want to break it by accident.

"So, how have you managed to get your clone to last so long?"

The black haired youth across from him stared into Kenji's eyes for a minute, before shifting his collar down enough to reveal a tattoo over his heart. Kenji's eyes widened, he had only seen that seal once before, and the guy who wore it had gone insane.

"Not to worry, Kenji-senpai," the youth started, "I worked out the errors in the seal. It works as it was originally intended, and no adverse side effects have been noted as of yet."

Kenji shook his head in worry. "But, splitting your soul like that... Itachi, you are insane."

Itachi smiled softly, "That theory is quite possibly correct."

Sadness seemed to creep into Itachi's usually stoic eyes, and Kenji quickly changed the subject. "So, I'll see you in a few months then?"

Itachi nodded as he stood up, taking his tea tray into his small kitchen. Coming back out, he handed a scroll to Kenji, who pocketed it without looking at it. He knew exactly what it was anyway.

The sword master rolled his neck as he stood up, his knees cracking as they were flexed after hours of sitting in the one spot. He picked up his pack, stocked with scrolls of meat, rice and fruit, his camping gear and a few scrolls filled with nothing but bottles of water. Heaving it onto his back, he picked up his katana from the edge of the door and waved over his shoulder to Itachi before jumping down the mountainside.

"Later, kid!"

Itachi watched as his favourite mentor slid down the side of the mountain, his chakra forming a kind of platform under his feet. Looking across to the clear sky, he couldn't help but smile it would be nice to get off this dreary mountain for a while and see how life had progressed in his few years away from it.

* * *

Three tired, hungry children dragged themselves into the clearing of training ground 7. Three training logs sat ominously towards the edge of the clearing, a forest surrounding most of it and a river running across the back. Naruto grunted in greeting, getting a yawn in return from Sakura and nothing from Sasuke. With a sigh, he dumped his blue pack against a tree and sat down beside it, leaning against the tree in an attempt to get a little more shut eye.

The group sat around, waiting for at least three hours before Kakashi finally showed up, a well worn edition of Jiraiya's first book in his Icha Icha series, Icha Icha Paradise, in his hand. Sakura was immediately on her feet at the sight of their god forbidden teacher.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi waved his free hand nonchalantly. "Sorry, sorry. I saw a black cat on my way here and had to take the long way around."

"LIAR!"

Naruto shook his head, trying to free it of the ringing caused by Sakura's shrill screaming. He watched Kakashi walk over to the logs and place an alarm clock atop the middle one. He also placed three _bento_, lunch boxes, beside the alarm clock. The one-eyed Jounin slowly turned to face his team, and one could almost see the sadistic smirk under that mask of his. He lifted up a pair of silver bells, and jingled them ominously.

"The rules are simple. You need to get these bells before noon. Whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied to a log while the rest of us eat lunch and then be sent back to the academy."

"But, Kakashi-sensei... There are only two bells," Sakura pointed out.

"Which means only two of you will pass this exam."

A fire seemed to light up in Sasuke's eyes, and Sakura started to worry for her chances of staying with Sasuke. She knew that if anyone on the team had a chance of getting those bells, it was Sasuke and Naruto and most definitely not her. Naruto frowned, his eyebrows knitted in confusion. Kakashi eye smiled, and raised his hand.

"You'll have to come at me with the intent to kill. Begin!"

Immediately, the three Genin blurred out of the clearing. Kakashi gave them a moment before he searched for them with practiced ease. He had to nod approvingly; Sasuke and Sakura were hidden well for Genin. Now, where was Naruto...? Oh, there. In the exact spot he had been standing when the exam started.

"You know, Naruto, ninja generally hide and strike from the shadows..."

Naruto smirked and folded his arms across his chest. "Screw that! I'm gonna take one of those bells right now!"

With that, Naruto charged forward, his fist cocked back as he ran. Kakashi sighed; it looked like he was wrong about his blond student. Naruto got in range and went to throw his fist forward, which Kakashi moved to block, but suddenly changed tactics mid-attack. The blond used the momentum from his swing, which was pulled short, to spin up into a heel kick aimed at Kakashi's neck. Said man quickly grabbed Naruto's ankle, only to find that the blond had twisted in a rather strange manner and was aiming a punch at Kakashi's face.

Kakashi pushed off from the Genin and had to duck a barrage of punches and kicks that came from Naruto once again. Kakashi bobbed and weaved, all the while his book was in his off hand and he continued to read, although only just. He noticed Naruto beginning to slow down, and took advantage of the situation. His speed kicked into overdrive, and Kakashi appeared crouching behind the blond. He made a tiger seal, and heard Sakura scream at Naruto to run.

"Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!"

Kakashi thrust his fingers forward and into Naruto's rear end, enhancing the dramatized poke with chakra to send the boy flying. As Naruto flew forward, he seemed to grin for a moment before bursting in a cloud of smoke, leaving Kakashi looking shocked.

'_A shadow clone... Damn, kid is smart.'_

Meanwhile Naruto felt a sudden rush of chakra and adrenaline, and the memories of what had happened to his clone passed onto him. Naruto shuddered and covered his backside for a moment, before snapping out of it. He tugged the wires of his trap to make sure they were good and tight before turning and running from his spot. That should be all the traps done; now he just had to find Sasuke and Sakura and convince them to work with him.

When he found Sasuke and Sakura he was kind of shocked. Sasuke was buried up to his neck underground, glaring at the unconscious form of Sakura, who was lying a few meters away. He landed next to Sasuke, making sure to keep it light and not the usual heavy thud. Leaning down, he smiled at Sasuke and held a finger up in front of his lips, signalling for the Uchiha to remain silent.

"I have an idea, and I need both yours and Sakura's help. I know you want to get a bell for yourself, but let's face it; none of us can take on a Jounin alone and expect to win. But if we team up, we may be able to distract him long enough to get the bells."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, and started to state his refusal, when he found Naruto glaring back at him. Naruto hadn't ever gotten angry in his entire time at the Academy, and whenever the pair sparred Naruto remained focused but never angry when he lost. This look, it was almost as terrifying as his father's was, when he was still alive. With a grudging nod, he agreed to Naruto's help. Naruto took a kunai from his pouch and dug around Sasuke enough to let the boy wriggle his shoulders free of the heard earth. The shorter of the boys then proceeded to grab the trapped one under the arms and tug, gradually pulling him free.

The pair proceeded to wake up Sakura, who immediately agreed to help. Whether it was because Sasuke had already agreed or because she knew she had no chance by herself, Naruto wasn't sure. The blond quickly explained his plan, and pointed out were his traps were prepared. He'd make clones to set off the traps at the right time, but ultimately it was up to Sakura to fulfil the hard part of the plan that was actually getting the bells.

* * *

Kakashi was sitting against a tree, reading his book. His team had been silent for a while now, and it was getting pretty close to midday as well. He had thought this team would be the one that finally broken his streak of failing Genin teams, but apparently he had thought wrong. What a shame, each one of them had major potential as well.

He flipped to the next page when he heard the high pitched whistling associated with throwing weapons. He grinned and moved off his tree, which was impaled not a second later with a myriad of kunai and shuriken. He had to quickly dodge the blurred form of Sasuke, who was attacking with his usual aggression and grace. What surprised him was Naruto's presence dropping from above, sword unsheathed and coming down in an overhead swing. Kakashi pushed back off Sasuke, making sure the Uchiha boy was out of range of Naruto's swing, only to find another barrage of shuriken and kunai flying at him from both left and right.

He had two options, keep retreating back, or use his own kunai to deflect the oncoming projectiles. He didn't have time to make the decision, Naruto and Sasuke made it for him. Sasuke had prepared to, once again, use his family's fireball technique and Naruto had a rather large shuriken spinning so fast that it had blurred into a circle of gunmetal grey. Jumping back, he had to dodge another rain of kunai and shuriken, as well as avoid Naruto's giant shuriken. He used a quick replacement as Sasuke let loose with his fire jutsu.

He appeared slightly off to the side of the boys and readied to knock out the two when he saw a pinkish-red blur shoot across in front of him, a part of the blur flashing silver. Surprised, he back pedalled away from Sakura when he noticed something in her hand; something that should have been attached to his belt.

He looked down in horror to find not only the bells were gone, but his belt had also been slashed and his pants were starting to fall. How the hell had Sakura gotten so close without the girl's chakra alerting him to her presence?

He eye smiled just as the alarm went off. "Well that was interesting... Meet back in the clearing."

The group made their way back to the clearing, Kakashi lagged behind a bit to give a bit of first aid to his belt, which involved tying a bandage around the two split ends and hoping that it held long enough. He looked over him team, impressed with what they had achieved. However, there was still some time to screw with them a little.

"Okay Sakura, you managed to get the bells. Which one of you will be going back to the academy? It's your choice."

Sakura gulped and faced her two comrades. Both were far better ninja that her, and both deserved to be Genin far more than she did. She loved Sasuke, but didn't she want to deny Naruto, the boy who had made getting the bells possible, the chance to advance in his career. She carefully handed one to Sasuke, before biting her lip and handing the other to Naruto, his eyes watering over with tears.

"Alright then..." In a matter of seconds, Sakura was tied to the log and Kakashi had placed the two bento on the ground in front of Sasuke and Naruto. "You two are free to eat. Don't give Sakura any food, she failed after all. I need to go change this belt."

Kakashi disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving the three preteens alone. Sasuke and Naruto opened their lunch and started to eat, occasionally throwing a side glance at Sakura. All of a sudden, her stomach growled rather loudly, causing the girl to giggle nervously.

"I didn't eat breakfast, and with the diet I'm on I didn't eat much for dinner either."

Naruto shook his head. "What kind of kunoichi diets like that? Eating balanced food is much healthier."

Sakura glared at Naruto. "I don't want to get fat!"

Naruto arched an eyebrow, and lifted his shirt to show his thin, well toned stomach. "I eat like a horse; do I look fat to you? The training we do as ninja keeps us in shape, and we need the energy from a balanced diet to do what we do."

Sakura couldn't help but admire Naruto's flat stomach for a moment before shaking her head. She went to argue but found Naruto holding his chopsticks up to her mouth, a small amount of rice and his _umeboshi,_ a pickled kind of apricot, held between them. Naruto grinned and motioned with his own mouth for her to open wide, which she did. Sakura loved umeboshi; they were one of her favourite foods.

Naruto deposited the food in Sakura's mouth, and suddenly remembered the time Haku had fed him after he had drilled himself into the ground. He had been in bed for three days, on orders of his mother, and Haku had been tasked with looking after him. Naruto felt the blush creeping up his neck, and turned away to try and hide it. He didn't want Sakura to get some idea that he was thinking about her. Naruto watched as Sasuke offered his own food to Sakura as well and couldn't help but grin.

_CRACK!_ Lightning shot down around the trio, making Sakura scream. Naruto and Sasuke jumped in surprise. Dark clouds had appeared in the sky, and Kakashi was standing in front of them with a murderous glare in his visible eye.

"You all...!" The trio gulped. "Pass!"

Naruto blinked in surprise, Sasuke smirked in triumph and Sakura just said 'huh?'

Kakashi eye smiled as he untied Sakura. "One of the most important aspects of being a ninja is teamwork. Those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. That is my number one rule."

Sakura crawled over and sat in between Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto clapped the girl on the shoulder and grinned at her, whilst Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement. Kakashi sat down with his new team and passed the third bento across to Sakura, taking his own from his hip pouch.

"Eat up, tomorrow Team Seven officially begins."


	9. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Five  
**_C-Rank Mission - Old Friends and New Enemies_

* * *

Naruto sat atop the tiled roof of his house, staring lazily up at the clouds as they floated past. For the past few days, since Team 7 had become official, Kakashi had run them through basic teamwork drills in the morning and two D-rank missions in the afternoon. Naruto wasn't sure what was worse, the D-Rank missions that were more like chores or the fact that they seemed to do no real training whenever Kakashi was around.

He looked to the kunai that was spinning just above his hand and sighed. After being taught the leaf spinning exercise, he had started to use kunai since they were heavier and therefore harder to spin. It still required control, but more force was needed as well. Ever since he mastered that and had moved onto tree climbing, he had done it whenever he was bored or annoyed.

Stopping the exercise, he caught the kunai with care as it fell without the chakra to support it in the air. Slipping it into his holster, he carefully levered himself up onto his elbows to watch Kaede. The teenager was in her garden, tending to the plants she worked so hard on every day. It was hard to believe she was technically a servant to the Namikaze. She and Shigeru were more like extensions of the family, like a cousin and an uncle respectively.

A loud ringing sounded from the house below, and Naruto couldn't help but sigh. That alarm signalled it was time to go and meet the rest of his team for the afternoon missions. If they had to catch that damn cat again, he was going to cut it into tiny little pieces and feed it to Akamaru.

* * *

Three blurs shot through the thick forest, barely disrupting the leaves that had fallen to the floor. The blurs stopped at three separate trees, turning into the visages of Team 7. Each one of them had a wireless receiver strapped around their neck and a bud in their ear.

"What's the distance to the target?"

"Five meters. I'm ready at anytime."

"So am I."

"Same here."

"Okay... Go!" Kakashi ordered via his radio.

The three Genin shot forward from their hiding places, Naruto reaching his mark first. The cat looked up just in time to see Naruto land on it. His arms wrapped around it just in time to stop it from clawing him to pieces like it had the first few times they had gone on this mission. Naruto's eyes caught Sasuke's and he subtly nodded towards Sakura. Sasuke nodded in return and said two words to Sakura. Two meaningless words and Sakura's attention was away from Naruto and the cat in an instant.

Naruto grinned evilly, slipping a kunai from his holster and went to bring it down right between the cats eyes when it was snatched from his grasp.

"Naruto, what the hell do you think you're doing!?" screeched Sakura.

"Damn it, Sasuke, you were supposed to distract her," Naruto growled under his breath.

Sasuke shrugged. "I tried."

Kakashi's voice came over the radio, asking if it was their target. Oh it was definitely Tora alright; there was no mistaking that damn sadistic cat from hell. The trio met up with their sensei at the edge of the forest and headed back towards the administration building. They'd turn the cat in and probably get another D-rank mission that would drive them insane.

They handed the cat over the Fire Daimyo's wife, who proceeded to hug the cat to her chest rather tightly. Kakashi had to force back a chuckle at Naruto's quiet chant.

"Squeeze it tighter, squeeze it tighter, squeeze it tighter!"

The Hokage looked down at his scroll of D-rank missions and cleared his throat. "Okay team seven; you have the options of babysitting an elder's grandson, going shopping in the neighbouring village or helping with a potato harvest."

Naruto clucked his tongue in annoyance. He couldn't take it anymore. "We've done nine D-rank missions in five days, and each one of those missions have been nothing but chores! Give us a decent mission already!"

Naruto bit his tongue when he realized what he had just said. He should have known better than to shout at the Hokage, and they were only rookie Genin. He was so going to get yelled at for his outburst.

'_I agree...' _Sasuke thought.

Sakura said nothing, mentally berating Naruto. However, her second self, who had a much looser tongue, was cheering for Naruto and booing the Hokage.

Kakashi bopped Naruto on the head with the back of his hand, admonishing his student for his outburst. Although, he had to admit, he was expecting it sooner or later. Of his three students, Naruto was the closest to normal and was also more expressive with his emotions. Sasuke was like a blank slate and Sakura would say whatever was necessary to get Sasuke to notice her.

Iruka started to rant. "You're just rookie Genin! And fresh out of the academy too! You should be glad that you're even doing D-Rank missions!"

Sarutobi went to lecture the blond youth about how the village's ninja and mission ranking system worked, when he noticed that said boy was mumbling under his breath about what Shigeru would be preparing for dinner. A long draw of his pipe later, his eyes fell to the C-rank scroll for barely a moment. One particular mission seemed to almost leap off the page at him, and the elderly man nodded. Yes, this would give Naruto what he wanted, and sufficiently punish him at the same time.

"Alright then," Sarutobi began. Iruka and Kakashi stared at the old man oddly, whilst Naruto wore a look of triumph and slight confusion. He didn't actually expect to get a C-rank mission. "Since you seem so determined, I have the perfect mission in mind. It is a protection and escort-style mission of a certain individual. I'll introduce him now."

Sarutobi motioned for the chuunin manning the door to open it. In stepped a man who looked old, but at the same time young and fit. The slight blush across his cheeks, and the bottle in his hand, immediately alerted the people in the room that this guy was most likely drunk, or at the very least on his way there.

"What's this? They're just bunch of super brats. And the blond one, he doesn't look like he can even swing that super sword of his."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, but he didn't otherwise indicate his desire to kill this man.

"In any case, I am the super expert bridge builder, Tazuna! I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get to my home and finish my bridge, even if it costs you your lives!"

Kakashi looked at the Hokage, whose smirk grew wider. "He has already paid for a basic C-rank mission. You will all be paid upon its completion. This mission will likely take a week, possibly two. I suggest you pack as such. Good luck."

Kakashi ushered his students out of the room. "Alright, go gather your gear. Make sure you pack appropriately for a two week mission. We'll meet at the gate in an hour, got that?"

After receiving a chorus of acceptance, he shooed the trio of Genin from the building and went to explain the situation to Tazuna before he packed his own gear.

* * *

Sakura was already there and waiting for the rest of the team when Naruto arrived. Naruto jumped onto the roof of the guardhouse and waved for Sakura to join him. The blond started chatting amiably with Sakura while the pair waited for the rest of their team. The girl was intelligent and surprisingly friendly when Sasuke wasn't around. It seemed that her obsession with Sasuke was tied in with some other part of her personality, or at least that's what Naruto figured.

He tried getting Sakura to talk about Sasuke, but whenever he even brought up his name, she would cut him off with a completely different branch of conversation. He chuckled politely at a joke Sakura told about her father, when he felt the incoming chakra signatures of Sasuke and Kakashi and the general presence of Tazuna.

Hopping down from the roof of the guardhouse, he grinned at the pair within and thanked them for putting up with him on their roof before waving to the rest of his team. He received a wave in return from Kakashi, but as usual got nothing from Sasuke. The Genin shrugged it off and waited for Kakashi to sign off the departure of the team before they headed out through the giant gate of Konoha.

As the group started down the road, a pair of eyes surveyed them from the treetops.

"Well, this is an interesting development, isn't it brother dearest?"

"Indeed it is brother. Do we continue as planned?"

"Yes. I doubt we will be able to achieve our goal with that Jounin around anyway. Prepare a note for him; we will slip it to him during the commotion."

"Of course, oh brother of mine."

* * *

"We are going to the Land of Waves, right? Are there any ninja there, sensei?"

Kakashi glanced across to Sakura, and fell into a monotone speech about the ninja world, how they often made up the military power of a country and backed up the Daimyo's.

"Because of the small size of Wave, the Daimyo never saw the need for establishing a Hidden Village. Wave is primarily a trading country. They make alliances through trade with certain ninja villages, and they in turn provide vital military support to those villages when necessary, but most often during times of war."

The group turned off the main highway and continued down the exact same yellow coloured dirt roads that sprawled all across the Land of Fire. Naruto shifted his backpack, his ninjato strapped to the left side of the pack instead of his across his back. He could feel something... off in the air. It wasn't threatening, but it didn't feel like something he would go out of his way to find either. That's when he noticed it.

Along the road, a puddle sat just off to the side. An innocent puddle, the sunlight shimmering along its surface, and Naruto was immediately alert. It hadn't rained in days. By the subtle shift of Kakashi's shoulders, his sensei had noticed it as well. Naruto slowly, and carefully, slipped his arm from the right side strap of his pack. The group walked ahead of the puddle when the chaos erupted.

There was no time to react as two men, shrouded in the one dark cloak, shot up from the puddle. Their mouths and noses were covered in masks, and they each had a forehead protector covering their forehead, marked with the symbol for Kirigakure, the Hidden Mist.

The second man jumped off the first's back, a shuriken chain attached to a heavy metal gauntlet on his left hand. An identical one, which held the other end of the chain, was on the right hand of the first. The chain wrapped around Kakashi, and the two men chanted together.

"One down."

The chain was pulled taught, carving Kakashi to shreds. No blood flew, however, merely shreds of cloth and the Jounin's body which fell to the ground with a heavy _thump. _The two men disappeared before the eyes of the Genin team. Naruto felt something reach under his left hip pouch, and reach into his back pocket.

The presence disappeared, with a drone of, "Two down." Naruto smirked.

The chain flew up for a moment and Naruto threw himself forward, his right hand on the hilt of his sword and his backpack flying backwards; right into the face of the first man. A shuriken buzzed before slamming into the chain, courtesy of Sasuke. The shuriken pushed the chain back against a tree, which was quickly nailed into place by a well aimed kunai, again by Sasuke. The Uchiha landed on the pair of gauntlets, using them as a platform to hold whilst he kicked backwards into the faces of the mist ninja.

Naruto spun his sword once as he dashed towards the two. The blade came up, glinting in the sun, aimed at the neck of the first man. Sasuke jumped away from the pair as the chain fell limp, being detached from the gauntlets. The pair quickly moved, the first narrowly avoiding a cross-cut from Naruto's sword. The blond corkscrewed, attempting to make another slash, but was forced back by metal claws swiping at his face. Naruto felt the back of his open heeled sandal get caught on a tree root and cursed. His eyes snapped around for a mere moment, but it was enough. The first's arm arced forward as the man pounced.

Time seemed to slow as Naruto's eyes trailed back to his opponent. His sword arm reacted on instinct alone, his fingers nimbly twirling around the handle as his arm came up in front of him. The blade, now resting against Naruto's forearm, intercepted the claws just in time. Blue eyes narrowed as a vile smelling liquid dripped from the claws onto his sword and Naruto pushed as hard as he could against the gauntlet but his footing was already starting to give way.

His eyes closed and Naruto focussed his chakra, passing it into his sword for one of the few techniques he could use with a blade. However, the weight suddenly disappeared and sent Naruto tumbling forward, who had been pushing against the man. He looked up in time to see Kakashi clothesline the second man, who had gone on to attack Tazuna.

Sakura was standing in front of the old man, a kunai firmly in her grasp, and Sasuke was standing in front of her, as if protecting her with his own body. The first, the one who was attacking Naruto, was unconscious and being held by the scruff of his neck by Kakashi. Naruto looked back to where Kakashi's remains should have been, and found a pile of shredded logs. To be able to use the replacement technique so quickly and without handseals, it greatly impressed Naruto.

Kakashi tied the pair of Mist ninja to a tree with a length of ninja wire and proceeded to question Tazuna.

"They weren't after me, Tazuna. They were going after you. Explain, now."

Kakashi's nonchalant attitude had been replaced by something that terrified even Naruto, who had faced the killing intent of a professional assassin.

Tazuna whimpered and explained everything. How he was being targeted by Gato because he was the only hope Wave had of breaking free of the shipping magnate's iron grip. By the time he was finished, Naruto could have sworn Tazuna had tears in his eyes, but the man looked away too quickly for the blond to be sure.

Kakashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course the first C-rank mission his team was given would turn into a B-rank. There was probably a Jounin waiting for them now that the two chunin, who Kakashi had identified as the Demon Brothers, had been defeated. Kakashi turned and looked at each of his students one by one.

"We really shouldn't continue this mission, but I'll leave it up to you guys. Will we continue on, or will we head back?"

Naruto fiddled with the handle of his sword. "I want to keep going. I mean, if we have the skills to help an entire country, why shouldn't we?"

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "This is our first true mission. We aren't turning back now just because it got a little dangerous."

With Sasuke's approval, Sakura, who had been sitting on the fence, quickly showed her approval of continuing the mission as well. Kakashi sighed; he knew he shouldn't have made it a democracy. With a wave of his hands, he motioned his students forward and informed Tazuna they would continue the mission, but it was to be risen to B-rank and an undisclosed amount of pay would be received when Wave was back on its feet.

Naruto grinned at his sensei before grabbing his bag, slipping his sword back into its sheath. He made sure no one was looking and subtly reached into his back pocket. From it he took a piece of paper that one of the brothers must have left behind.

_We'll tell the boss you're in our part of town, no need to worry. Catch up with you later, little brother._

Naruto grinned and shook his head. He stuffed the note into a sealed pocket of his bag and then hurried to catch up with his team. This mission was about to get fun.

* * *

Naruto was starting to get sick of Sakura's constant questions about Wave country. Sure, he was interested in the place as well, after all his clan originated from there, but for the love of all that is holy! They were supposed to be in enemy territory. He could see Sasuke's annoyance written clearly over the prodigy's face, and was trying to decide whether Kakashi was giggling because of his book or trying to drown out Sakura.

When they finally reached the shore, which was lined with mangroves so deep it was impossible to actually see the path hidden behind them, Naruto was the first out of the boat with a sigh of relief. He hated being cramped up in a small space, probably because was stuck with four other guys and a girl that wouldn't shut up.

"Sorry Tazuna, but I can't afford to take you all the way to your house."

"It's not a problem my friend. Go home safe."

The rower pushed off from the hidden dock and rowed away down another set of inland rivers. Tazuna's faced turned blank and he pointed in the direction of his house. The group set off again, everyone tense. Even Sakura had gone quiet, noticing the tension in the air. Every time Naruto's arm swung with his steps, his finger would brush against the ring of one of his kunai; the blond knowing exactly what was coming soon.

Naruto tensed and deftly threw a kunai into the underbrush of a nearby tree. Sakura started to scream at the blond for 'trying to act cool' and pushed the bushes aside, revealing a snow white rabbit. The matte black kunai was lodged in the tree just above its head, and Kakashi frowned. Naruto wouldn't throw a kunai with that much force for no reason.

'_And that rabbit... It's the wrong colour for this season... Which means it was bred indoors... Shit! Replacement technique!' _"Everybody, get down now!"

Kakashi crouched, his left forearm and right hand keeping him on his feet so he could jump up at a moment's notice. Sakura dived left and Sasuke to the right, making sure Tazuna was under him as a form of protection. Naruto crouched just like Kakashi did, except only one hand was on the ground, the other free to move about. He shifted his pack so he had better access to his hip pouches. Outwardly, he looked just as shocked as everyone else at the huge sword flying overhead, which curved like a boomerang and embedded itself into a rather thick tree. Internally, he was grinning. If Zabuza was here, then Haku was as well.

* * *

**Flashback**

Zabuza's knuckles rubbed against Naruto's skull, trying to burn away the blond hair via friction.

"God damn it sensei! Get the hell off me you psychopath!"

Zabuza's shark-like teeth gleamed when he smiled. "Just a going away present, brat. Now remember, if we ever meet in the field as enemies, we will fight. After all, I need to see how much you have progressed. After the first fight we will tell your team, whoever that may be, that you and I are friends. Then, I'll decide whether I want to help you or not, got it?"

Naruto frowned, "Yeah, yeah. You've told me a million times now. Jeez, I'm not stupid."

"Tch, that's debateable." Zabuza grinned at the stink eye he received from his blond pupil. "In any case, we'd better hit the road. Say bye, Haku. It will be the last time you see the precious little blondie for a while."

**End Flashback**

* * *

Naruto shuffled around through the assorted tools he kept stashed in his pouch, trying to find his two favourite scrolls. His fingers brushed one, and he traced the outline of the words written on it. With a grin, he pulled the scroll out to the point where the end of it was sticking out through the flap of his pouch and left it there. The team stood up and faced the giant sword, now with a man standing atop its extremely long handle, facing away from the team.

The bottom half of his face was wrapped in bandages and his forehead protector was wrapped strangely around his head, the metal protector on the side of his head. He wore no shirt, only a belt that wrapped over his chest, around his neck and clipped up with the front again, which obviously held his giant sword when not in use. Baggy, striped pants covered his legs. His arms and shins had blue and white camouflage design warmers, reaching just above his elbows and just below his knees respectively.

Kakashi stared at the man and mentally frowned. "Well, well... if it isn't Kirigakure's missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza-kun."

Zabuza twisted his head slightly so he could see over his shoulder. "Sharingan Kakashi. Sorry but, the old coot is mine!"

Kakashi reached to his forehead protector, the one that always covered his left eye, and pulled it up until it was straight across his forehead. The eye underneath was crimson read, with three black _tomoes, _a kind of swirl that looked like a comma, revolving around a black pupil. Naruto's eyes narrowed and Sasuke's widened. Both though the exact same word.

'_Sharingan!?'_

Sakura, the only one who didn't know what the Sharingan was aside from Tazuna, asked the question. "What's the Sharingan?"

Sasuke frowned as he explained. "The Sharingan is a _doujutsu, _an eye technique, which is said to be able to read and defeat any form of Nin, Gen or Taijutsu. But that isn't the only technique the Sharingan has..."

Zabuza chuckled darkly. "Exactly. That's not all. What's even scarier is the fact that once your opponent has seen your techniques with the Sharingan, he can copy them."

The missing-nin chuckled a little more before he kept speaking. "When I was still a part of the Hidden Mist's assassin team, I kept a Bingo book. It had information on you, Hatake. The man who has copied over one thousand jutsu, Copy Ninja Kakashi."

Zabuza turned on his sword, now facing the team. Sasuke was scowling at Kakashi, wondering exactly how this man got the Sharingan. It was supposed to be a rare trait within the Uchiha clan, but this Jounin was obviously not an Uchiha. Naruto flicked a second kunai from his pouch and held it in a reverse grip. He would have to wait his turn to fight Zabuza, it seemed.

"Let's end all this talking," Zabuza said. He crouched atop the sword and grabbed the handle with his left hand. "I still have to kill the old coot, after all."

Immediately the team formed up, the three Genin taking up position in front of their client, Sakura to the left, Naruto on the right and Sasuke in front. Kakashi was standing just ahead of his team, eyes narrowed and glaring at Zabuza.

Zabuza kicked off from the tree, tearing his sword from the trunk and taking it with him. The tall man blurred out of sight until he landed atop the lake, kicking up a single wave that rolled out from his spot in all direction. The giant sword was slung over his back and his arms were held in an odd position. His left was straight up in the air, and his right was bent horizontal so his hand was in front of his face. Both hands were held in a half ram seal.

The ninja was releasing enough chakra to constantly whip up waves from his place atop the water, one or two strands occasionally snaking their way around his legs. A leaf fluttered in front of his face, and Kakashi's eyes widened slightly when he realized the man was about to use a jutsu.

"**Ninpou..."** Zabuza drawled. A thick fog rolled in from nowhere, obscuring half of Zabuza from sight. "**Kirigakure no Jutsu**."

The fog thickened and Zabuza disappeared completely, Sakura screaming what everyone else could, or in this case couldn't, see. Kakashi's Sharingan searched for any source of chakra that belonged to Zabuza, but the fog was so thick with it that he couldn't pick up anything. This was bad.

"He'll go after me first. When Momochi Zabuza was still a part of Kiri's assassin team, he was revered as a master of silent killing."

Sakura took in her surroundings. A few moment's ago she could see the thick trees, even with the mist, but now there was nothing. "The mist... it's getting thicker!"

"Eight choices..." Zabuza's voice came through the mist, "Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart... Which one should I aim for?"

Kakashi brought his hands together in a ram seal, focussing through his Sharingan eye only. He could feel his entire team shaking. Sakura was quivering but standing in formation as she should. Naruto wasn't shaking as much, but was still shivering. Sasuke was the worst off of the three. The boy was about to stab himself with a kunai when Kakashi spoke.

"Sasuke, don't worry. I'll protect you all, even if it kills me. I won't let my comrades die."

Sasuke suddenly stopped shaking, so did Sakura, but Naruto was still trembling. What Kakashi didn't realize, however, was that the blond was shaking in fear. No, he was shaking in anticipation. He couldn't wait for Zabuza to trap Kakashi, no offence to the Jounin, so he could have his turn at the sword wielding missing-nin.

"We'll see about that!!"

Zabuza appeared in the gap between the Genin and Tazuna; his sword held behind him via his left hand, his right held in a half ram seal. Kakashi's eyes widened as he turned and lunged, kunai at the ready. He pushed the three Genin and Tazuna out of the way as he ran the kunai into Zabuza's stomach. To his shock, and slight horror, blood didn't come from the wound like it should. It was water.

A second Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, giant sword already swinging forward. Kakashi's Sharingan eye swirled for a moment before the Zabuza in front of him collapsed into a puddle of water. The sword cut Kakashi clean in half, the top part of his body seeming to float in mid air. But, like the first Zabuza's wound, there was no blood. Only water.

'_**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu**__!? No way!'_

The two halves of Kakashi turned into the clear liquid, and the _snick _of a kunai being drawn could be heard just in front of Zabuza's neck.

"Don't move. It's over!"

Sakura stared at Kakashi with admiration in her eyes, and Sasuke with respect. Both wore wide smiles on their faces. Naruto, however, was smirking and subtly shaking his head. This match was nowhere near over.

"Hehe..." Zabuza chuckled, "It's over? I don't think you get it... There's no way you can defeat me with your monkey-like imitations.

"It was impressive though. You had your clone support your team, saying those words that kept them together. You did to attract my attention while you hid in the mist, watching me. You truly are quite the ninja, Sharingan Kakashi. However..."

Kakashi waited. He didn't like the sounds of this. That last word implied that the Zabuza he currently had was yet another water clone. Sure enough, Zabuza appeared behind the Konoha Jounin, the one in front falling into a puddle of water.

"That one is a fake as well!?" Sakura screamed.

Zabuza's cleaver swung, Kakashi ducking just in time. The momentum behind the blade caused it to turn full circle, the end of the blade crashing into the ground behind Zabuza. Kakashi's leg swung out in an arc, aimed at Zabuza's ankles. The missing-nin quickly swapped hands on the end of his swords handle, using it as a balance to avoid the sweep kick. His leg shot out and just missed Kakashi, who jumped away on all fours towards the water.

Zabuza went to follow and narrowly avoided treading on the _makibishi_, nails that always had one point facing up, that Kakashi had scattered when he went flying. With a chuckle, Zabuza simply jumped from his place on the land, kicking up some of the makibishi and a bit of dust, before landing behind Kakashi on the lake.

Kakashi frowned at the water that was dripping from his arms and head. It was way too heavy to be normal water...

"**Suiro no Jutsu**!"

The water around Kakashi formed up into a sphere, trapping the ninja inside. Zabuza chuckled even more, and brought his free hand up in front of his face, once again making a one handed seal.

"Kakashi, we'll finish things later. But right now, I have a job to do. **Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu**!"

Another clone rose up from the lake, water dripping from its sword and arms. The clone stepped forward onto the land. He disappeared into the fog, sending the Genin on high alert again. A second later, Naruto was sent flying, his bag falling from his shoulder mid flight. The blond scowled and flipped so he would land on his feet. Zabuza's leg slowly came back down to the ground, his arm reaching over his shoulder for his sword.

"You guys!" Kakashi screamed. "Take Tazuna and run! The water clone can't go far from his real body! As long as he is keeping me trapped, he can't move! Just run! Now!!!"

Naruto wiped the bottom of his lip with his thumb, collecting some of the blood that had spilled from his busted lip. "What's the point, sensei? Even if we run, he'll kill you and then come after us. We may as well stand and fight."

Naruto reached behind him and pulled the earlier scroll from his pouch, breaking its seal with his middle fingernail. The scroll unravelled by itself, revealing a set of six seals within. Naruto's bloody thumb ran over all six seals as they were shown, but none of the seals released the familiar cloud of smoke until Naruto made a half ram seal with his free hand.

Instead of six separate clouds of smoke, one large one was released from the scroll. The smoke was blown away after a second, to reveal a glimmering steel sword that looked far more advanced than any weaponry available in Konoha. The weapon looked somewhat similar to Zabuza's sword, the handle being relatively long and the blade huge. Instead of curving at the end like Zabuza's cleaver however, it stopped and jutted diagonally up and across. Several catches were visible, and Kakashi could discern several different blades that made up the one. Altogether, the sword was easily 5 feet, possibly even 5 and a half. Taller than Naruto at least, who was four feet, eleven and a half inches tall.

The blond deftly caught the red handle of the giant sword, his pinkie only just managing to hang onto the weapon's sealing scroll. Grabbing the scroll with his offhand he rolled it back up with a flick off his wrist, stashing it away in his pouch before taking up the sword with both hands.

"Meet my Fusion Swords. Six years of research, experiments and a lot of money, and Kenji-tou-san came up with this baby."

Zabuza smirked. Naruto smirked back. Sasuke glared at the blade, wanting it for himself despite the fact he didn't know how to use it. Sakura was staring at Naruto with a new sense of admiration and respect. Kakashi stared at the blade in awe, momentarily distracted from the fact his team was about to be slaughtered.

"Let's get wild."

Naruto dashed forward, surprising his team with how easily he seemed to wield the giant sword. Kakashi was the only one who noticed how he was doing it, and that was because of his Sharingan. Naruto's chakra was strengthening his muscles so he could swing around the sword like it was his normal ninjato. Said chakra flared at the boy's feet as he jumped forward, bringing the sword down in an overhead strike.

The resounding _boom _that came from the clash sent any animal in fifty yards running for the hills. The ground under the Zabuza clone was crushed inwards, but the water clone remained standing although he was straining to keep the boy up with his own sword.

Naruto's eyes flicked around, taking in his surroundings as he made a plan of attack. The mist was beginning to thin, which made it easier to see the surrounding trees and rocks. Using the handle as a spring board, Naruto launched himself away from Zabuza, straight at a tree to his left. The blond landed on the tree although he remained for only a second before shooting towards Zabuza again.

Naruto swung the sword mid jump, using the momentum to continue the spin even when Zabuza blocked it. He hit the ex-assassin's sword a few times before he was pushed off by the clone. Naruto landed in a crouch, his sword resting over his shoulder, panting and sweat dripping down his chin.

'_I need to practice with this thing more... It's wearing me down too quickly. But man its fun!'_

The real Zabuza chuckled from beside Kakashi. "Still just a novice, brat."

Kakashi's head snapped around to Zabuza, and then back to Naruto. These two had _met!? _What the hell was going on here? Sakura stared in horror at Naruto. He knew Zabuza from before today. What if he was working for them? He only came to Konoha a month or so ago, right? Sasuke was having similar thoughts as Sakura, but added a few extra of his own.

'_If he was working with the Jounin, why would they be fighting? Something isn't right here.'_

Naruto grinned. "Bring it on, old man!"

The Zabuza clone made a 'come on then' motion with his off hand, a smirk visible from the wrinkles in the bandages. Naruto sent a small burst of chakra into one of the latches as he ran forward, a dagger-like blade popping from the sword. Naruto grabbed it in his left hand and swung it around, the handle folding out from the blade. It was about the same length as his forearm.

Naruto swung the main blade toward the clone, which was intercepted by Zabuza's sword. Naruto grinned and lunged forward with his smaller blade, piercing the water clone's bicep. The skin where the clone's eyebrows should have been rose a tiny bit in shock, before it shattered into a torrent of water. Naruto grinned and dashed to the side, slamming his sword into the ground when he was clear of Zabuza's path.

"Sasuke, give us a flame!" Naruto called.

Sasuke stared at the blond in a dumb kind of shock. "What?"

"One of your fire jutsu, aim them at Zabuza!"

Sasuke shook his head to clear it. He decided that even if Naruto was working with this man, he wasn't going to pass up a free opportunity to take out a Jounin. He ran through the well practiced hand seals for his favourite technique.

"**Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"**

Sasuke's chest puffed out much further than anyone would have thought possible, before he blew through a ring made of his first two fingers. Naruto watched as the giant fireball ignited and was spewed from Sasuke's mouth, straight at Zabuza with frightening speed. Just as the fireball reached the lake, three water clones of Zabuza appeared in front of the fireball in an attempt to stop the fireball by dousing it with water after the clones were hit. Naruto brought his hands together for a jutsu of his own.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa!**"

Wind seemed to gather just behind Naruto before it exploded forward, following the same path of the fireball except a lot faster. The wind encompassed the fire, and for a moment Naruto thought he had screwed up by putting too much chakra into the technique, but then the fire seemed to swallow the wind, rapidly growing in size. The added momentum sent the fireball rocketing forward, destroying the clones without putting so much as a damper on the flames. Zabuza glared at Naruto before he released the water prison, quickly escaping the fires path. Kakashi mimicked his opponent's action, thankful Zabuza had released the prison with enough time for him to escape.

Zabuza growled from the back of his throat and cracked his knuckles. "Damn brat, you can explain the situation to your team."

"But, sensei...!" Naruto whined.

Kakashi stared at Naruto. "Sensei...? What the hell is going on here, Naruto? I want a damn explanation, now!"

Naruto sighed with an over exaggerated wave of his arm. Leaning against the broad guard, he grinned across to his team and sensei.

"Well, I met Zabuza when I was ten, so about two years ago. Kenji had to leave and he arranged for a new instructor while he was gone. Turns out, that instructor was Zabuza-sensei here. Zabuza-sensei became my primary instructor for six months before he caught word of the Mist's hunter-nin's finally tracking him down. Turned out to be a lie, but he didn't stay long after that.

We decided that if we ever met in the field, we would have one battle to test each other. If I was able to beat one of his clones, then he would agree to working with me on whatever my mission was. I figured that since the real body was vulnerable, I'd try and beat that one too."

Zabuza shrugged, ignoring the last part. He knew that Naruto was trying to get revenge for the harsh training he had put him through. He would get it later, that much was guaranteed.

"That's pretty much the gist of it. I owe Kenji for saving my life from the hunter-nins about six years ago, so I am repaying him by training his son." The man turned to glare at Naruto. "Although, you still suck with that sword of yours; haven't you been training with it at all?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. Kakashi was confused, but would accept the situation for now. He trusted Kenji more than he trusted the Hokage, and he was the Hokage's man through and through. Sakura's jaw was on the ground, disbelief clearly visible in her eyes. Sasuke frowned; Naruto had been instructed by this monster of a Jounin before he was even an official ninja. That sucked.

"You mean," Sakura started slowly, "we have been going through hell with that killing intent, and Kakashi wasted his chakra, for no reason!?" By the end of it, she was screaming.

Zabuza chuckled darkly. "Oh no, little girl. If Naruto hadn't beaten my clone, I would have killed all of you and finished my job. The only one I would have left alive would be Naruto."

Sasuke's scowl grew deeper. Their lives were riding on _Naruto_ that entire fight!? He would not accept that. He was glad he got to have some part in the fight, but was still annoyed he never got to test his own abilities against a formidable opponent.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a short figure appeared just behind Zabuza. He was dressed in a kind of green striped jumpsuit, a darker green and cream edged kimono over the top. A dark brown sash kept the kimono closed, and he wore elevated wooden sandals instead of standard shinobi ones. His long black hair was tied into a bun at the back, but two long bangs framed either side of the mask he wore. Said mask was plain white, with red spiral like designs on the chin and the Kirigakure pattern on the forehead. In the boy's arms was the white rabbit from earlier.

Kakashi was immediately on guard. If Zabuza was their new ally, then he should protect him from hunter-nin's, which is what this boy obviously was. Right?

"Haku-chan!" Naruto cried.

The 'boy' took away his mask, revealing the face of a beautiful girl. She was smiling at Naruto, her eyes shining. Naruto lunged forward and wrapped his arms around the girl, Haku returning the hug with just as much fervor. The two chunin from earlier, who Kakashi was sure he tied up, dropped down beside the pair and clapped Naruto on the shoulder with the hand that wasn't covered by a gauntlet.

Haku turned so her head slightly so her lips were facing Naruto's ear. "I told you we'd see each other again."

"I know. It's good to see you again, Haku-chan."

The pair split when Meizu coughed rather pointedly, the mask covering his mouth giving it a strange metallic sound. Zabuza nodded towards the Brothers, who disappeared up into the trees again, and made his way across to Kakashi. The group started out again, Sakura asking questions about Naruto's life before Konoha and Sasuke listening intently, although he tried not to show it.

"Meizu and Gouzu are just scouting ahead. Gato doesn't trust me, and I don't blame him. But, as long as he is still under the impression we are working for him, I plan on going back there. I'll take the Brothers with me; they heard some of Gato's men talking about hiring more ninja to finish us off after we killed the old man. Apparently there are three of them, but they charge as if they were one Jounin, instead of separate entities like we did. If that's true, then they will attack in ten days. That is when my contract expires. I'll try and gather what information I can and relay it back to you through one of the brothers."

"I'm grateful, Zabuza-kun. But, why are you telling me this and not Naruto?" asked Kakashi.

"You are the commanding officer of the team, you need to be informed. And Naruto will have enough on his plate for the next week or so. I suggest you train your students a bit, Gato won't rely only on those ninja he hires; he will use his thugs as well."

Kakashi looked ahead to his team, and jogged ahead to catch up. "Well, Zabuza-kun and the Demon Brothers will be heading back to their hideout once we reach the village. Haku, is it? Well, it is up to you but you can stay with us or with Zabuza, since he didn't mention anything about you."

Haku knew why Zabuza hadn't mentioned her going back to the hideout. "If it is alright, I would like to stay with your team. It'd been a long time since I've been able to see Naruto-kun, and it will be nice to be with people closer to my own age."

Sakura looked across at the girl, "How old are you exactly?"

Haku smiled. "I'm fifteen."

Naruto grinned. "And she could kick Kakashi-sensei's arse if she wanted to."

Haku shook her head at the incredulous looks Sasuke and Sakura were giving her. It was good to see Naruto had friends now, after spending so many years with no one but his family.

"Ah, we are almost there!" Tazuna called from between the teens and the men, pointing to a break in the trees ahead.

"Well it's about time! Lugging this thing around is killing me, ya know!?" Naruto exclaimed, waving wildly with his reassembled sword.

* * *

**Next Chapter**

"Naruto-kun, wait up!"

Haku came to a halt beside the blond, who had finally stopped atop the roof of a tall building. She looked at the boy, and followed his gaze across to a large mansion, surrounded on three sides by walls and the fourth protected by a giant waterfall. Along the top of the walls were sword carrying thugs and several volley guns prepped with god knows what kind of ammunition.

"Where are we, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, seeing the worry in Naruto's cerulean eyes.

"My family's home..." Naruto whispered, "The birthplace of the Namikaze clan. And that bastard Gato is corrupting it!"

* * *

**Translations  
**

Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique  
Fuuton: Daitoppa – Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

_Kubikiri Houcho – _Decapitating Carving Knife

**AN: **o.O! 14 pages... That has got to be my longest chapter ever. Anyway, I think it is time for another disclaimer.

I don't own Final Fantasy.

There we go. Love it? Hate it? Review and let me know!


	10. Chapter Six

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Six  
**_In and Out_

* * *

"Zabuza, why is that old bridge builder not dead yet!?" Gato demanded, swinging his hand in obvious fury.

Zabuza's eyes cut across to the shipping magnate. "He has a Konoha Jounin acting as bodyguard. And not just any Jounin either, this one is used to be an ANBU captain. Taking someone of his skill out will require time and preparation."

Gato signalled for his two bodyguards to step forward. Both drew their swords as they followed their paycheque's command. "You listen to me, Momochi. You had better kill that old man before the week is up or those hunter-nin you are so afraid of may receive an anonymous tip as to your whereabouts."

Zabuza growled at the threat and gave a subtle nod of his head. Two dark, clawed gauntlets suddenly found their way to the necks of Gato's bodyguards and the tip of Zabuza's _Kubikiri Houcho _was just touching the tip of Gato's nose.

"You threaten me again, you'll find out exactly why this sword is called a decapitating knife."

Gato stumbled backwards but managed to keep on his feet. "Just make sure it's done! Zori, Waraji, we're leaving!"

The two bodyguards backed away from the Demon Brothers carefully before they sheathed their swords and went ahead of their boss. As Gato walked out the door behind the pair, he turned just enough so that the he could see Zabuza through the corner of his eye and smirked.

Zabuza watched the door slam behind the short man and growled. "That bastard is definitely planning something. You two," he looked across to the Demon Brothers, "find out who the hell he has got on his payroll."

"On it," the pair stated. The two disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving Zabuza to continue with his plans.

* * *

"One hundred and forty-six, one hundred and forty-seven, one hundred and forty-eight, one hundred and forty-nine, one hundred and fifty! You can stop now."

Naruto collapsed onto the forest floor, sucking in as much air as he possibly could. Sitting atop his back was not only his Fusion Swords but also the cross-legged form of Haku. After one hundred vertical push-ups with Haku standing on his feet and one hundred and fifty with the girl and his sword on his back, Naruto was definitely feeling the strain on his muscles.

"You've certainly gotten better, Naruto-kun. Two years ago, you couldn't even make it to fifty. And that was without me on your back."

The blond moaned in response, causing Haku to giggle once more. "Get off, I'm suffocating down here."

Haku obliged and Naruto shook his giant sword from his back as well, revelling in the lightness he felt after carrying such a heavy weight. He shifted into a sitting position, leaning back on his palms and frowned across at Haku, who grinned in return.

"Remind me to never let you design my training regime. Damn well worse than Zabuza-sensei you are."

"Oh that's a lie and you know it," Haku said.

Naruto shrugged and rolled his shoulder, the feeling quickly returning. He was very glad for his advanced healing, even if it did come from a demonic fox sealed in his gut.

"Maybe," Naruto answered, "but then again, maybe not."

"Oi, Naruto, team training. Come on."

Naruto glanced up into the branches overhead and saw Kakashi looking down at him, his book open and usual eye-smile in place.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Naruto grumbled.

Kakashi dropped down beside the boy. "Don't be so glum. You can train some more with your lady friend later."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched and he snatched for Kakashi's book, only to have his hand slapped away.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

Naruto picked up his sword and stomped off through the forest, leaving a bewildered Kakashi and a blushing Haku behind.

'_I never said girlfriend. But Naruto took 'lady friend' to mean 'girlfriend', so he must... Oh! I am going to have so much fun.'_

Kakashi waved politely to Haku before he took off after his blond student, already planning the many different ways to tease Naruto.

* * *

"Okay, since there is no guarantee that Gato won't hire more ninja to attack Tazuna-san, we will be doing some training so you can help if it comes to a battle. You'll be climbing trees."

Naruto stared at Kakashi with a rather incredulous look on his face. _'The Tree Climbing exercise? Is he serious?'_

"But, sensei, we can already climb trees," Sakura pointed out, Sasuke grunting in agreement.

"True," Kakashi started, "but you will be learning to climb trees without your hands."

With that Kakashi walked rather lazily up the trunk of a nearby tree until he was hanging upside down from a branch. He eye smiled to his team and started to explain how the exercise worked. Sakura and Sasuke both paid attention, listening to every word that Kakashi said. Naruto however, Kakashi noticed, was picking at dirt trapped under his fingernails.

Three kunai landed in front of the Genin, and Kakashi instructed them to mark their progress on the tree. Sasuke took off running, only making it up three steps before sliding back down the tree. Sakura made five steps before she slipped and fell as well. Naruto, deciding to play along, ran up seven steps, marked his place with the kunai, and back flipped off the tree.

Soon enough Sakura was half way up the tree, sitting on a branch and playing with the kunai. Sasuke was still struggling with it and Naruto had all but given up. Kakashi watched the blond with a frown, trying to decide what to do with him.

"Alright then. Sakura, I want you to keep running up and down the tree until you get exhausted. Sasuke, keep practicing until you get the hang on it. Naruto, come with me."

Kakashi took off through the trees, Naruto following along the ground. As the pair got out of earshot, Kakashi called out to the blond.

"Naruto, come up here already."

Naruto nodded and leapt onto the thickest branch he could find, repeating the process until he was even with Kakashi.

"So, you already know the Tree Climbing exercise. I think it's safe to assume you know the Water Walking exercise as well?"

Naruto nodded.

"Alright then, have you ever heard of Shape Transformation?" Kakashi asked.

"I've read about it." Naruto's brow furrowed in concentration, "It's supposed to be an advanced form of chakra control. According to the promotion guidelines set forth by the Third, it is very basically covered upon promotion of Chunin and then more advanced material is made available to Jounins. It is also vital in the creation of new techniques."

Kakashi's eyebrow rose in surprise. "How do you know so much about that?"

"I read a lot when I was younger," Naruto stated with a shrug.

"Right... Well anyway, you're correct. Generally Shape Transformation is reserved for Jounin to learn, and even then many Jounin don't bother. It's extremely difficult, and a lot of ninja have an 'if it works, don't fix it' mentality. However, when mastered, Shape Transformation can make existing techniques far more powerful than they normally are. It's also, as you put it, vital to creating new jutsu.

"There are some basic exercises that you can do to get used to manipulating the shape of your chakra; the most common form is making chakra visible to even the naked eye. This generally takes a few months of training, but with your chakra capacity, I wouldn't be surprised if you could get it in a couple of weeks. I'll show you some manipulation exercises, like making a leaf curl into a tube, if you can manage that."

Naruto arched his eyebrow in confusion. "So, I just build up enough chakra that it becomes visible?"

"Right," Kakashi answered. "It's generally easier to focus on one point of your body, like your hand for example, and make the chakra visible there."

"Okay then."

Naruto took off through the forest, looking for a clearing and leaving Kakashi to do whatever it is he did. Several times he almost hit a tree because of the extra weight of his sword. He finally found the clearing he and Haku had been in before and dropped to the forest floor, landing with a heavy _thud._

Dumping his sword against a nearby tree, Naruto sat down and crossed his legs, making the ram hand seal. Settling in for a long bout of meditation, Naruto closed his eyes and focussed his chakra.

* * *

Naruto's eyes slowly opened, dim light reflecting off the water surrounding him. A gust of wind suddenly rushed across the room, carrying a foul scent with it, whipping up the water straight towards Naruto's face. Ducking his head, he avoided getting any of the murky water in his eyes, but his hair was soaked to the point of being almost flat. Naruto looked up through his blond bangs and glared at the source of the wind.

"Hello, Kyuubi."

"**Come a little closer, oh jailer of mine. Just a little closer so I can **_**tear**_** you to **_**shreds**_**!**" the giant fox roared.

"Shut up already." Naruto slowly stood up in a manner similar to Kakashi, lazily but at the same time purposefully. "What am I doing here, anyway? I'm supposed to be trying to make my chakra visible," he said more to himself than to the fox.

Cerulean eyes wandered from the nine tailed kitsune, who was ranting about something or other, and looked around the cavernous room. The walls were made of slate grey bricks that seemed to absorb any light that touched them. Pipes ran along the roof and walls of the room, some glowing red whilst others glowed blue, signifying his chakra circulatory system. The water around his ankles was murky and rather disgusting to walk in. Thankfully he could stand atop it instead.

'_I really don't like my mindscape.'_

Another wave of water came rushing at him and Naruto growled in annoyance. That blasted demon was starting to annoy him. Acting on instinct alone, Naruto lashed out with his hand and was surprised when the veritable tsunami halted in its tracks and changed course, straight back at the Kyuubi. A few seconds later, a loud yelp and the sound of spluttering reached Naruto's ears and he smirked in triumph.

"That's what you get, stupid fox. Why did you pull me here?"

"**Why in damnation would **_**I **_**call **_**you **_**here? Your filthy presence disgusts me,**" the Kyuubi growled, its tone laced with loathing.

Naruto motioned to the surrounding room. "Look where you live. And you call me filthy?" he said with a bit of a chuckle.

The demon slammed against the iron wrought bars of its cage. "**Let me out, and I'll damn well show you my home. It's called the Underworld!**"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you reckon. If you didn't call me here then I'm going to take a look around."

Naruto waved over his shoulder as he walked out of the cavern through an opening in the wall opposite the cage. A loud roar echoed behind him, and Naruto chuckled a little more. Looking down the halls of his mind, Naruto noticed that the blue pipes that ran to the left had a stronger glow than the ones on the right, and decided to follow them.

The further away from the seal he got, the clearer the water became until he could see the faded grey stone floor beneath. The walls also slowly faded from slate grey to almost white, although it wasn't quite that far. Light seemed more prominent away from the seal as well, and the red pipelines faded from the strong crimson they had been.

Turning a corner, Naruto noticed a room of bright light ahead, which both the pipelines ran towards. His pace quickened as he hurried to reach the source, wondering exactly what it was when he heard something echo along the halls.

"..Ruto... Na..to.. Aruto.. Naruto!"

"What the hell?" Naruto whispered, spinning around wildly to try and find the source of the voice.

He felt a tug at his navel and his eyes widened when he feel face first towards the water. Bracing himself for the impact, he waited.

* * *

"Naruto! Wake the hell up damn it!"

_SLAP!_

"Hey, hey! Ow!" Naruto's eyes snapped open, his hand reaching up to rub his stinging cheek.

"Naruto, do you have _any idea _how long we have been looking for you? I mean, come on! We've been screaming your name for almost an hour!" yelled Sakura, her hand still at the ready for another slap.

Naruto held up his free hand in defence. "I'm sorry, please don't hit me! I was meditating and kind of zoned out."

Sakura huffed in annoyance and stood up from her crouching position, stomping off through the clearing. "Hurry up. Tsunami-san has made us dinner. It's probably gone cold by now. Geez!"

Naruto shook his head to clear the stars brought on by Sakura's hand. Using the tree behind him as support, he dragged himself to his feet and grabbed his sword, following the pink haired girl through the trees.

'_Damn crazy girl. Slapping me for no reason! But... what was with that light? It felt kind of weird, but... in a good way. Am I going crazy?'_

Naruto noticed everyone staring at him when he walked into the house, promptly ignored them and sat down to eat his now slightly cold fish and rice.

"Naruto..." Sakura started, staring not at the blond but at his sword, "I was wondering if you could explain how your sword works? I mean, it looks really advanced."

Naruto hummed in agreement, still chewing on his food but he quickly glanced around the room. Everyone was curious about his sword, even Haku, who had seen it in action on several occasions. Swallowing, he reached behind him and grabbed the sword from its place on the floor.

"I call them Fusion Swords, but technically it is known as the First Tsurugi, because it is the first in a series of advanced swords dad plans on developing," Naruto explained. "I'll show you all the different pieces in a sec; I just want to finish the last of this rice."

Naruto inhaled the rest of his food and led the group to the more open space of the living room. Disassembling the sword, he spread the blades out in a semicircle with him sitting in the middle.

"The two on the end are the Ryou Ken, the companion swords. They are attached to either side of the sword and cover up the hilts of all the others attached. They're also pretty good for close combat."

Said blades were the size of small swords, or in a sense a wide mid-blade. The sword in itself was about two feet in length. Instead of a hand guard, that each had a complex looking gear system which retracted the handle and placed them alongside the back of the blade. The swords were mirror images of each other, a series of five small circular dents running up the length of one side of the blade.

"The next two are the Kinkou Ken, the balance swords. They attach to the back of the assembled sword to provide balance and some extra weight. Kind of weird to fight with on their own, but pretty awesome once you know how."

The next two were once again, mirror images of each other. Each of the blades was saw-toothed, with each of the teeth being sharpened along the flat edge. The swords, blade and hilt included, reached to roughly four and a bit feet long. The hilt was black and had a ridge along it every fifteen centimetres or so, giving distinguished handholds.

"Now for the business end, the Kyoukou Ken; it attaches to the front of the sword to become the cutting edge of the blade. By itself it's still one hell of a sword though."

This sword was all blade, with only a small part at the end where it met the hilt. The hilt itself was split down the middle, along with the rest of the back of the sword, leaving it hollow so it could easily attach to the main sword. The hilt was wrapped in a strange red material that looked like leather, but felt more like cotton or something of that sort.

"And finally we have the Chuushin Ken, the centre sword and the heart of the First Tsurugi. Everything attached to this to make up the sword I normally use. It's a bit weird, but technologically one of the most advanced swords on the continent."

The Chuushin Ken was easily the largest of all the swords, being about five and a half feet long. The hand guard was huge, with several slots for the other swords to fit into. The blade was split into two, equally long segments. The bottom segment was wide and thick, which merged into the top segment which was narrow and ended in a point. The hilt was wrapped in the same red material as the Kyoukou Ken, and was about a foot and a half long.

The group edged closer to get a look at the weapons. Just as they got within range of the semicircle, Naruto grinned and twisted the very end of the Chuushin Ken's hilt. The blade snapped in half lengthwise, being locked apart by a series of metal links and gears running up the length of the now split blade. Sakura and Tazuna jumped back in surprise, while Sasuke's eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

'_Ah,' _Kakashi thought, '_I thought it looked a lot wider before.'_

"They all fit back together with a series of switches that can be activated by short bursts of chakra for quick release, so it's a pretty versatile sword. I've also been thinking about trying a new technique with all the different pieces but haven't really gotten around to testing it yet," Naruto said.

"I see," Kakashi stated. "So, when does Kenji-senpai plan on releasing the next sword?"

Naruto shrugged in reply. "Don't know. I think he said something about two years, but I can't be sure."

Before anyone could say anything else, a shadow blurred into the room, the door slamming shut behind it. Naruto immediately had the Chuushin Ken aimed at whoever it was, and Kakashi tensed as well. When the light settled around them, it revealed the form of Meizu, lacking his usual mask and horned forehead protector, and in civilian clothes.

"Gato and his men have never seen me or Gouzu outside of our ninja outfits. Easier to sneak around like this," the man explained. "But I have some information for you."

"Go on..." Kakashi said.

"Well, Gouzu and I were taking a peak at some of Gato's 'personnel' files, and we found something rather interesting. Aside from the hundreds of bandits he had hired, those three ninja we heard rumours about and none other than Hangenki Sankyodai."

Kakashi's eye widened astronomically. "Are you certain?"

"Positive. They are also bringing along their subordinates. I'm surprised they are charging less than us, despite the fact there are more of them," Meizu said with a frown.

"Sensei, what is the Hangenki Sankyodai?" Sakura asked.

"More like who," Kakashi started. "The Half-Life Triplets, three ninja siblings that tried to destroy their home village, Iwagakure, because the Tsuchikage kept them separated. After that, they started up their own gang of bandits and have been hunted by Iwa ever since. Every ninja or bounty hunter that has gotten close enough to kill them has been slaughtered in such a way that it makes even me feel a bit queasy.

"The question is why the hell did Gato hire them, of all people? Their base of operations is supposed to be on the other side of the continent."

Meizu folded his arms and his frowned deepened. "We aren't sure yet. Gouzu is trying to find out right now. But even Zabuza, as strong as he is, can't take on the triplets and win. Their teamwork is even better than mine and my brothers. We need to find a way to separate them and still fight their thugs, along with Gato's men."

"Duh, that's what we're here for. Zabuza-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, you and your brother and Haku-chan are all really strong. While you are fighting those half triplets or whatever, we can hold off some half-wit bandits," Naruto said, poking himself in the chest with his thumb.

Kakashi folded his arms over his chest and closed his visible eye, a smile forming under his mask. _'So much like Obito...' _"Is that so? Well then, I guess we shouldn't worry."

Meizu shook his head, not sure whether to be amused by Naruto's statement or reassured. The kid was good, he'd admit that much, but he was still no match for any well trained Chuunin.

"Listen, I've got to head out," the demon brother said, "if I'm away too long, people will start to notice. Either Gouzu or I will bring you Zabuza's plans in the next few days. Catch ya later!"

With that, Meizu disappeared with a strong gust of wind. Kakashi nodded to himself, letting his chin rest against his collarbone. If Sasuke and Sakura were going to survive the coming fight, they were going to need more than a bit of chakra control training. He wouldn't put it past the triplets to try and attack fresh Genin to distract him.

"Sasuke, you're going to have to step up your training with the Tree Walking, you need to get that finished before I teach you anything else. Sakura, you will be with me tomorrow. I'm going to teach you some basic genjutsu techniques; your level of control is perfect for illusions."

"What about Naruto? Why does he get to skip training?" Sasuke demanded.

"Naruto has already mastered the Tree Climbing exercise and will be guarding Tazuna with Haku. That is, if you don't mind?" Kakashi directed the last part towards the girl.

Haku smiled and nodded. "That's fine."

Naruto, however, was frowning. His clones could easily protect Tazuna and pass on a message quicker through the memory absorption ability. He watched Kakashi reached into his backpack and pull out a pair of long range transmitters. Handing one to Naruto, he showed him how to set it up.

"From now on, you and I will be in constant contact. I want you to never take your eyes off of Tazuna-san from the moment he leaves this house in the morning until he returns in the afternoon. The Hangenki Sankyodai might already be watching the bridge."

"Roger," Naruto said.

"Okay, I think it's time everyone got some sleep," called Tsunami, who had just come back downstairs after putting her son to bed.

Kakashi bowed his head in agreement. "Yeah, I think you're right, Tsunami-san. Make sure you get a good night's sleep, guys. You'll need the energy tomorrow."

* * *

Two days of nothing but guard duty was driving Naruto crazy. There was only so much he and Haku could talk about. All day long he essentially just lazed about on the side of the bridge, soaking up as much sun as he could and watched the workers slowly disappear. He had been replacing them with his clones, but they could only do so much. They weren't trained carpenters or other kinds of tradesmen.

So tonight, to break his monotonous duties, he was going to sneak out and take a good look around the village. Maybe do some spying of his own in Gato's base, if he found it. Cracking an eye open, he looked around the room to find everyone else asleep on their mats and sleeping bags. Grinning, he slipped out of his pyjamas to reveal his normal clothes underneath, and crept across the wooden floor to the depression where the shoes were left.

Quickly sliding on his sandals, he quietly slid open the door just enough to slip through, and waved cheekily at his sleeping teammates and Haku. Once through, he took a deep breath before racing down the wharf, excitement bubbling in his chest.

Back inside, Haku's eyes slowly opened and she couldn't help but frown.

'_What is he up to now?'_

Mimicking the blond's actions, she snuck out and made to discreetly follow Naruto when she realized he had completely left her senses.

'_I don't remember him being this fast,' _she thought to herself.

Haku took to the rooftops once she reached the main part of the village, avoiding the wandering homeless and any patrols that might be out for a moonlit stroll. Her speed increased to almost maximum as she grew ever more frantic, not finding Naruto anywhere within the village. Deciding to try a different angle, she turned on her heel and started towards Gato's base of operations. His shipping company was located on the coast, and she seriously doubted Naruto would go that way.

Sure enough, she soon found her runaway blond bounding across rooftops headed straight towards Gato's mansion.

"Naruto-kun, wait up!"

Haku came to a halt beside the blond, who had finally stopped atop the roof of a tall building. She looked at the boy, and followed his gaze across to a large mansion that looked more like a castle. Surrounded on three sides by walls, the fourth side opposite the main gate was protected by a giant waterfall. Along the top of the walls were sword carrying thugs and several volley guns prepped with god knows what kind of ammunition.

"Why are we here, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, seeing the worry in Naruto's cerulean eyes.

"My family's home..." Naruto whispered, "The birthplace of the Namikaze clan. And that bastard Gato is corrupting it!"

Haku gasped in shock. She hadn't known it belonged to Naruto's clan. "Are... are you sure?"

The blond merely pointed to the large gates in the middle of the wall. In the middle of both gates, burnt into the wood was a giant circle, a large wave coming out of the left side with a smaller wave more towards the right of the circle.

"I always just thought that they represented the Land of Wave... Naruto-kun, I am so sorry."

A menacing growl pierced the silence of the night, and Haku stared at her best friend, horrified. His teeth were bared in a feral snarl, the long canines catching the moonlight in an eerie manner. His whisker marks were deepening and his nails were growing. But all of that was nothing compared to his eyes. His normally beautiful cerulean eyes that sparkled with joy and mirth were now crimson red, Naruto's wrath visible through them and giving them an even darker quality.

"I'm going to damn well rip that bastards head off."

"No you're not..." Kakashi's lazy voice drawled.

The silver haired Jounin stepped out from the shadows, his arms crossed and his visible eye serious. Naruto growled at the Jounin and took a menacing step towards him, which Kakashi mimicked making Naruto back up in shock.

"Even with _that _chakra, do you really think you are capable of defeating me? Let it go, Naruto. Getting angry in a situation like this solves nothing. If you really want revenge, you should go take a look around. Find out where he sleeps; see if he keeps any personal information around. Killing him now will just leave the bandits without a leader, which in turn will probably end up as the end of this land. They'll overrun it without any direction and ultimately destroy it."

Naruto felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and looked around to see Haku smiling sympathetically at him. Slowly but surely, Naruto began to calm down enough that the demon chakra receded from his system, returning his features back to their normal state. Kakashi nodded and eye smiled toward the blond, whilst Haku hugged the blond.

Naruto returned the embrace and felt the heat rising up his neck and cheeks, blood rushing to his head. He tried to fight it back down; after all he was a ninja down. Ninja didn't blush. He slowly let his arms fall from the small of Haku's back and steadied his breathing, trying to get his rapidly beating heart back under control. Once he finally regained his composure, he looked towards his sensei.

"I don't really know how to do that stuff," Naruto explained. "I mean, I know the basics of infiltration and recon, but most of my training has been towards becoming an Elite."

Kakashi nodded in understanding. Not many ninja were willing to become reconnaissance experts as they were the ones that went behind-enemy-lines to gather intelligence on enemies. It was those kind of shinobi that were subject to the most scrutiny within the ninja world, fears of them having turned coat or being manipulated by some jutsu were always in mind when they returned home. Of the few reconnaissance and espionage that Konoha had, only Jiraiya of the Sannin was never questioned. And even then, it was only because he had been constantly providing vital information to Konoha for over twenty years.

"I'll be right here. They are just thugs, so you should be fine. If you manage to get in and out without being noticed, I'll teach you a nifty jutsu I picked up during the war for sneaking around."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the words 'new jutsu' and he immediately set out to find a quiet way into the house. Kakashi shook his head in amusement whilst Haku watched with a soft frown. She could sense chakra to a minor extent, and she knew there was at least one person in that mansion that had chakra levels that were well above any old thugs.

* * *

"Ah yeah, that's the stuff!" a high pitched voice exclaimed, his words slightly slurred.

A deep, rumbling voice replied, "If you drink all that sake, I'll cut you into itty bitty pieces, Kakko."

Naruto watched as the two argued over the large porcelain jug of alcohol and grinned at the idiocy of the pair. Getting over the wall had been easy, he just waited until there was a gap in the patrol and leapt across the walkway, sliding down the other side of the wall with his chakra.

The pair's argument grew heated and, taking the opportunity, Naruto slipped passed the two thugs without making a sound, his feet barely touching the ground as he dashed across the barely lit courtyard. He made sure to slide around any slivers of moonlight that fell across the ground, sticking to the shadows as much as possible.

Naruto came up to the wall and immediately pressed his back against it, mentally kicking himself for not grabbing his ninjato on the way out of the house. His eyes trailed across the yard, his special ninja diet allowing him to see clearly through the darkness of the night. Glancing at the main doors to the house, he frowned and shook his head. Standing on either side were four thugs, each armed to the teeth with all manner of sharp and pointy instruments.

'_No good. I need to find another way in... This is a ninja household, there has got be some kind of hidden entrance.'_

Naruto ran through his jutsu list in his head and his frown deepened. Aside from the _Shunshin _jutsu, he had nothing that could help in a situation like this. He moved towards the edge of the wall and deftly slipped around the side. This side was much darker, the walls of the mansion protecting it from the light of the moon. He crept along the side of the wall, his senses on high alert, always looking for someone that might spot him.

Just ahead he noticed a puddle of water and a constant small stream running from somewhere above the puddle. Following the trail of water, he noticed a pipe sticking out from the wall of the house, easily wide enough to fit a small child through. Naruto looked at his shoulders before looking back at the pipe and almost swore. His shoulders were broader than the pipe was, if he was going to go in that way he would have to dislocate one of them. Thankfully he had had to dislocate his shoulder many times as part of his training with Kenji and Zabuza, in the case that he was tied up and couldn't use his chakra. Any decent ninja could sense the output of chakra, even for something like the rope escape technique.

Relaxing his shoulders, Naruto tucked his fist into the pit of his left arm and put it at an awkward angle before jerking upwards with his fist. A sickening 'pop' sounded, along with an almost slurping kind of noise, and Naruto's left shoulder was dislocated.

He immediately bit down on his lip to keep from screaming. His teeth tore through the skin and blood began to both pool in his mouth and ooze down his chin. The coppery tasting liquid ran over his tongue, making Naruto feel a little sick as well as in pain. Taking a few deep breaths, Naruto calmed himself before spitting the blood out and clenching his jaw, grinding his teeth together. Never was he so thankful for his ability to walk on completely vertical surfaces without the aid of his hands.

'_I better damn well get that jutsu off Kakashi-sensei. No matter how many times I do this, it hurts like a bitch!'_

He walked up the wall, his left arm hanging limply behind him. Reaching the drain, he carefully slid himself in right shoulder first, tucking his useless arm behind him to keep it out of the way. As he crawled, he focussed less on his sight and more on his hearing and sense of smell. The mansion was mostly quiet, a few guards wandering here and there but nothing he couldn't simply slip by. He was grateful for the lessons Zabuza had given him on honing his senses, as right now they were more vital than ever.

As he trailed along, he was thankful for the fact that the water wasn't from sewerage or something of a similar sort. The water was clear for the most part, probably drainage from taps or refrigerators. A patch of light ahead drew Naruto's focus back from his hearing, and he was surprised at what sat in the dank light.

A fox was clawing at the grates above it in a small, square drain that was easily big enough for Naruto to crouch normally in. Its fur was a strange colour, being reddish-grey with silver undertones and a triangular patch of white under its chin. Its thick bushy tailed swayed behind it in apparent annoyance at not being able to get through the grate.

Naruto made to crawl forward a bit more when its head snapped around to face him, an almost inquisitive look in its dark eyes. Naruto grinned through clenched teeth and held out his hand towards the small critter, hoping it wasn't rabid.

The fox carefully padded forward, its front paw touching the pipe around Naruto's hand a few times before it came close enough to sniff it. Naruto had to hold back a childish giggle when its whiskers tickled his hand, and tickled its chin in return with the tips of his fist two fingers. The fox bounded forward and licked Naruto's face before baring its teeth in what Naruto assumed to be a smile of some kind.

'_What an odd fox. I didn't even know they could smile...' _the blond thought.

Naruto pushed against the fox until it moved back so Naruto could crawl into the drain space, crouching on his hind quarters similar to how the fox was sitting. He could feel the pain coming back to him now that he was focussed again. Zoning out and listening to the mansion had numbed his mind from the pain for a while. He focussed on his hearing one more time and heard no one in the room above him, and pushed the grate up with one hand.

Crawling through the now open hole in the floor, Naruto looked around and recognized the room as a storage room. On one side were fridges and giant freezers, on the other barrels and shelves of god knows what. The fox jumped up from the drain and jumped around the blond for a minute before racing off to the nearest open source of food. Naruto shook his head in amusement before setting about relocating his shoulder.

Letting it hang by his side, he relaxed for a few moments and was glad for his high pain threshold. If it wasn't for that, reducing his shoulder would take a lot longer than he would have liked. Once he was sufficiently relaxed, he lifted his arm up and out slowly until it above shoulder level, and reached behind his head as if he was going to scratch the back of his neck. Instead of stopping, he continued to reach for his other shoulder until the pain suddenly disappeared from his shoulder.

"Much better," he whispered to the fox, which stopped its eating long enough to yip quietly at him.

Naruto chuckled before moving towards the door, listening for anyone on the other side before cracking it open just a bit. It was a massive kitchen. This was definitely more of a castle than anything else. And technically, he _owned_ all of it. He opened the door enough to just fit and went through, darting along the cement tiled floor.

'_Right, need to find information. Where would that slime ball keep his files? I wish I had a map of this place... Hang on!'_

Quickly making his cross-shaped hand seal, Naruto called up a small group of five shadow clones. The clones, already knowing their orders, disappeared through the kitchen doors. Naruto strained his hearing to try and locate his clones, and when he couldn't he grinned in triumph. The fox came out from the storeroom and sniffed around the kitchen for a minute before nipping at Naruto's ankles a couple of times.

"What is it?" Naruto asked the fox, bending down to face it. Normally animals hated him, but this little fox seemed to love him.

The fox yipped a few times before pointing its long nose towards the door, its wet black nostrils flaring as if it had picked up a scent. Naruto frowned in confusion before focussing his own sense of smell towards where the fox seemed to be looking. Picking up nothing but the musky scent of the fox, Naruto easily crept forward towards the door and pressed against it, looking out through the gap his clones had left.

Seeing nothing, he moved to go back to the fox when he heard footsteps. _'They aren't in the dining hall yet... whoever it is must still be out in the hallways patrolling. But they are definitely coming this way. Damn!'_

Naruto looked around the room, trying to find a good hiding spot when the fox yipped again. Naruto glared at the animal and it ran back into the storeroom. Looking around again, he resigned himself to hanging from the roof via his chakra. He waited just above the doorway, looking a bit like a vampire.

Sure enough, a lone man walked into the kitchen. Dressed in a pair of green baggy pants that fell to half way down his shins and a brown open vest, one could easily tell he was a gangster. Well, the clothes plus the tattoos down his arms of koi fish and dragons. The man scratched his stomach and snorted a few times as he walked, his bare feet slapping against the floor rather loudly.

Naruto shook his head in disgust and stalked the man into the storeroom, being sure to make no noise. The gangster had pried open a barrel of sake and was refilling his small ceramic bottle with the alcoholic liquid. Creeping forward, Naruto cursed when he saw the grate was still pushed open. He was also surprised that the gangster hadn't seen it. The blond made an attempt to quietly shut it, but the gangster had turned around.

"Oi, you're not supposed to be 'ere!" the thug slurred.

"Yeah well," Naruto started, "I go a lot of places I'm not supposed to."

With that, Naruto dashed forward and brought his fist in close to his chest. Just as he got in range of the man, he placed his open hand on his fist and attacked, aiming an elbow strike to the gangster's chest. Surprisingly, the gangster managed to dodge it. The half drunk fumbled with a knife tucked into his waistband. Naruto spun on his heel, throwing a backhand at the side of the gangster's head. The attack struck true and the man toppled to the ground, out cold.

"How pathetic," Naruto whispered to himself.

Picking up the bottle of sake the man had dropped, Naruto sloshed it around his chest and chin, then dropped the now three quarters empty bottle next to the fallen man's outstretched hand. It was easy to frame someone to look like they were drunk, especially when they were already half way there.

All of a sudden, a rush of images came to Naruto's mind from one of his clones. It had found Gato's quarters just as a patrol was coming around the corner. It had dispelled itself before it got caught, but now Naruto had to go search the shipping magnate's room himself. Raising his hands into a ram seal, Naruto dispelled the other clones that were running about the mansion and immediately gained a pretty accurate readout of the place. Some of the clones had found file rooms as well. He'd go there first and then go check out Gato's room.

Getting through the halls to the files was easy enough; the patrols were less and less frequent the further away from Gato's quarters he got, and the few he did come across he could easily bypass by walking on the roof. He collected files on personnel and Gato's less than legitimate dealings that the shipping magnate wasn't willing to leave at the office. Naruto could hardly believe that one man could be so deep in the underworld. Slave trading, weapons import and export, business deals with Yakuza, black market trading. This guy had his grubby little fingers in every honey jar.

"You really shouldn't be here, my little ninja friend."

Naruto spun on his heel, his eyes locking onto whoever had spoken from behind him. Leaning lazily against a wall was a rather tall, slender man that could easily be mistaken for a woman. He had long, flowing white hair that was tied into a thick braid, which easily reached the small of his back. Dressed in loose fitting blue and white robes, he was smiling almost serenely at Naruto. But what really drew the blond's attention were his eyes. He had soft orange eyes which held an almost ethereal glow to them.

"Who are you!?" Naruto demanded.

The man chuckled softly. "I could ask you the same thing. After all, you are a foreign ninja infiltrating this place. I, on the other hand, was invited in. You should really take off your forehead protector before you go sneaking around."

Naruto reached up and touched the cold steel of his forehead protector, before glaring at the man again. "What do you want?"

"Me? I just want to talk. This place is so utterly dull, after all," the man said.

"You want to talk? You can start with your name."

"I suppose you're right. It's rude to ask someone else's identity without first revealing yourself. I am Hangenki Kisuke. And you are?"

'_Han... Hangenki!? He's one of the triplets! Shit!'_

"No one important," Naruto replied.

"Oh come now," Kisuke whined. "Surely you have a name. At least let me hear it before you leave."

Naruto froze. Leave? In what manner? Naruto gulped and he heard Kisuke laugh from behind him.

"You sure are an interesting one. Come on, tell me your name. That's all I want to know. Tell me your name and you can go."

"Naruto... My name is Naruto."

Kisuke grinned. "Well it was a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san. I hope we meet again in the future. Your mere presence seems to excite me more than anyone else on this island. I wonder why?"

Naruto made a weird sound from the back of his throat, somewhere between a laugh and choking, before taking off down the halls with the use of his _Shunshin _technique. Kisuke watched the spot where Naruto had been standing for a few moments before his grin became a soft smile.

"The next few days should be interesting... I wonder how well my brothers will fare against a demon host..."


	11. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Seven  
**_Clash at the Unfinished Bridge_

* * *

It had been three days since Naruto had met Kisuke in the Namikaze mansion. Sasuke and Sakura had mastered the tree climbing exercise, and Sakura had almost tripled her dismal chakra capacity. Sasuke's had increased as well, maybe by fifty percent or so. Each had also been taught a new jutsu. Sakura had been taught the genjutsu, _Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu_ and Sasuke the fire element technique, _Katon: Housenka no Jutsu_.

However, for three days, Naruto had been so tense that every time a twig snapped or an animal scurried across the forest floor, he would throw a kunai at it. Sakura had tried talking to him once, and had had been chewed out by the blond for being too weak, and she should be busy training instead of talking. Kakashi was extremely worried about his student's mental health, and wondered what the hell had happened in that mansion.

"Naruto," Kakashi called.

The blond's head snapped around to face the Jounin, and Kakashi had to fight back a wince. Black circles were forming around the boy's eyes and the happiness that normally shone in those eyes had been replaced by a dull paranoia.

"Naruto," Kakashi repeated, "calm down. It's only me. I came to see if you wanted to learn that jutsu I promised you. Sasuke and Sakura can look after the bridge for the next few days while you practice."

Naruto nodded jerkily, the sparkle slightly returning to his eyes. Trust a new jutsu to give the boy some life.

"Alright then, I learnt this particular technique from a shinobi of Kusagakure. It's called the _Hiru Bansho no Jutsu. _Orochimaru of the Sannin developed his own technique from this, called the _Hiru Bansho: Boka no Jutsu_. It allows you to merge with another object and then move around through it. For example, if I was to use this jutsu and merge with the ground, I could pop up anywhere in this forest if I chakra. One of the things about travelling with this technique is that you can only travel a certain distance before your body needs to unmerge with whatever it is you're connected to. Of course, it takes a lot of chakra to keep up and a lot more control. If you manage to learn this technique, you could be classed as having Chuunin-level chakra control."

Naruto grinned. Never again would he have to dislocate his shoulder to get into a building. "What does Orochimaru's version do?"

"It's a quicker version of the original, but doesn't last as long. It's used to avoid taking any damage from an attack. It's not as suitable for spying purposes, because it removes the 'sight' application of the technique," Kakashi explained.

"Sight..?" Naruto questioned.

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, the original version, the one I am teaching you, has a secondary ability which makes it perfect for spying. When you merge with the object, you can still see as if you were standing just in front of what you merged with. So you could merge with a wall and watch a meeting on the other side of it."

"Sweet!"

Kakashi chuckled and told the blond to pay attention. He showing Naruto the necessary handseals for the technique and performed it a few times himself to show just how it worked. He had guessed that Naruto learnt through doing things, so explaining the theory behind the jutsu would probably be a waste of time.

Seeing Naruto was already ignoring him and working on the new jutsu with a fervour that Kakashi hadn't seen from the blond in days, the Jounin decided it was time to leave.

Meanwhile, Haku watched Naruto practice his new technique from the treetops for hours on end, making sure her presence was concealed. Naruto wasn't a chakra sensory-type ninja, but she had taught him the basics of tracking via chakra, despite the fact that he didn't have nearly enough chakra control to use it effectively.

She had been surprised when Naruto had managed to use the Hiru Bansho technique after a few tries, although he still wasn't able to move around with it, as every time he successfully merged with something, he would appear in the exact spot he had disappeared from. It was painfully obvious that he didn't have enough control for such a technique.

"Why do you wear yourself out so much for something you can't master, Naruto-kun?"

* * *

Team 7 minus one had assembled for dinner at Tazuna's home, Tsunami once again preparing a basic but extremely tasty meal.

"Kakashi-sensei, where is Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke grunted in agreement. He was going to challenge the blond to a race up one of the larger trees in the forest, to see if he had beaten his rival in terms of chakra control and speed.

"Oh, I promised to give Naruto a new jutsu, since I taught you both tree walking. I didn't want him sitting around doing nothing but guard Tazuna. Since you pair have mastered the tree walking exercise and been given a new jutsu, I showed him the jutsu earlier today. He's probably still out practicing." _'That should keep any arguments from arising.'_

Sasuke stared at the Jounin a few seconds longer before nodding and turning back to his meal. He decided that arguing with his sensei would be pointless, and may end up with him not being taught anymore technique. Sakura stared at the open door and into the forest, biting her lip in hesitation.

"Are you sure we can just leave him out there?"

Kakashi eye smiled and bowed his head. "I'm positive he is fine. Besides, Haku is with him."

Sasuke merely shrugged and finished off his bowl of rice before politely thanking Tsunami, and announced he was going to study one of the fire jutsu scrolls he had brought along with him. Kakashi nodded and turned back to his book, hoping to finish this chapter before it was time to get some sleep.

* * *

Naruto lay on the ground, staring up at the night sky with a forlorn look on his face. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get the _Hiru Bansho_ technique to work properly. The stars twinkled merrily above him, and Naruto sighed. He hadn't been able to relax in the past few days. Ever since his meeting with Kisuke he had been feeling paranoid. One of the people he was supposed to fight sometime soon had just let him go. It was unsettling.

'_I am Hangenki Kisuke. And you are? ... Your mere presence seems to excite me more than anyone else on this island. ... I hope we meet again in the future.'_

Naruto clenched his fist in an attempt to draw his mind away from Kisuke's voice. Exciting an enemy ninja was not what he wanted to do. He wanted to strike fear into their hearts. Fear enough to the point that they ran away with their tails between their legs so he didn't have to kill them.

'_Why did he let me go?' _Naruto wondered, his eyes trailing along the constellations of the stars.

Naruto heard a bark from the tree line and rolled onto his side to see what it had come from. To his surprise, the fox from the mansion came strolling into the clearing, its tongue lolling from its open mouth in a kind of foxy grin.

"Well, aren't you a pleasant surprise," Naruto grinned. "Come here little fella."

Naruto reached toward the fox with his left arm and beckoned with his fingers for the fox to come over. It yipped happily and bounded over to Naruto, a spring in its step. It bounced around his face a few times before jumping up onto his chest, licking Naruto's chin when he settled down. Naruto giggled at the feeling of its whiskers along its chin, and ran his fingers through its soft fur.

"You really are a strange animal, aren't you? You act so human."

The fox yipped again and nudged Naruto's chin with his wet nose, as if trying to tell him he understood. Naruto laughed some more and felt himself really relaxing ever since breaking into the mansion. A yawned forced its way through his lips, and Naruto could feel three days of barely any sleep catching up to him. The fox curled up on his chest, its golden eyes staring at him down its long snout.

"You'll watch over me, won't you?" Naruto said, scratching the fox behind its upright ears. "Then I'm going to take a nap..."

Naruto trailed off and no more than three seconds later, the blond was snoring. The fox watched the blond for a few more minutes before turning its gaze upward. Sitting on a branch, hidden away from the searching eyes of Haku, was a pure white fox with three tails swaying around behind it. Its golden eyes were narrowed in curiosity.

Its tails swayed behind it for a moment before it suddenly leapt from the branch it was on, spiralling mid air before landing on the ground before the smaller fox. It padded forward and pressed its nose to Naruto's forehead. It waited a minute or two and then turned away, giving a pointed look to the fox sitting atop his chest. The first fox yipped and the three tailed kitsune disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving the smaller fox, staring up at the night sky.

Haku watched the scene play out from above with a mixture of fear and something she wasn't quite sure of, anxiety maybe. After the three tailed fox had disappeared, she frowned. Now she was definitely afraid. Only summon animals could appear and disappear like that, even ninja animals weren't that fast. So who the hell had a fox contract around here?

* * *

"Has anyone seen Naruto?" Kakashi asked of his team.

Sakura looked around the room, and noticed that Naruto was indeed still missing. Shrugging, she shook her head in the negative mimicking Sasuke's actions almost exactly. Kakashi bowed his head in thought. The boy was probably still out training, or had fallen asleep in the forest. If the boy's file was correct, he would be impervious from any illness so decided to leave it at that.

"Oh well," Kakashi shrugged. "Tazuna-san, are you ready to leave? We will have to be extra attentive today; Zabuza-kun's contract ended last night."

The pink haired Genin tripped over her own two feet when Kakashi said that. If Zabuza's contract had ended, it meant that the team would likely be facing those Sankyodai people sooner rather than later. Sasuke was shaking with anticipation, and his pace increased to get to the bridge faster. If they were fighting someone, he would damn well be the first to get involved.

Kakashi shook his head at the sight of his Genin and wondered if they were actually ready to face a true enemy. Sasuke seemed overconfident whilst Sakura was lacking confidence. Thankfully, Kakashi had drilled his team of formations, and the group naturally fell into a triangular formation. Sasuke and Sakura were ahead of Tazuna, on the right and left respectively, and Kakashi was just behind their client.

The group finally reached the bridge, which was in its final stages of completion, and were horrified at what they saw. The bridge, once the drab grey of concrete and green painted railing, was now painted crimson red. Sasuke's jaw clenched as he kept himself from retching, but Sakura wasn't as controlled. Vomit piled at her feet, and Tazuna wasn't any better off. Kakashi eye had widened but other than that, he displayed no visible signs of being affected by the sight.

"Ah, our target has finally shown up. It's about time..." a deep, menacing voice drawled from in the middle of the bridge.

"Damn fucking right. Killing all those workers killed some time, but I want a fucking good fight!" a second figure cried, standing atop the left guard rail of the bridge.

The two were covered in blood, showing that they had been responsible for the slaughter on the bridge. The one standing in the middle of the bridge was physically huge, probably three heads taller than Zabuza and his muscles were bulging to the point that they had probably torn his shirt, leaving it as a sleeveless vest. He had tan skin and brown hair that fell in a messy mop around his head, and dark orange eyes.

The second was as tall as Kakashi and lanky; long arms hanging loosely beside him. He wore a long sleeved vest, which was left open to reveal a ninja mesh shirt underneath. He had similar coloured brown hair to the first, except it was done up in large spikes in a line along his head, the rest left bald. His eyes were the exact same orange of the first, and their skin colour was almost exactly the same.

Behind the pair was a veritable army of gangsters, thugs, bandits and god knows what else. Kakashi was about to order a retreat when Zabuza and the Demon Brothers walked out of the trees behind them, standing next to the Konoha team.

"Where is Naruto and Haku, Kakashi?" questioned the Demon of the Hidden Mist.

"Not quite sure myself," Kakashi answered. "They were out training last night. I expected them to be back by now."

Zabuza frowned, the bandages across his lower face contorting to his lip movement. "Damn. Down two ninja, that's not good. At least the third triplet seems to be missing."

Kakashi nodded and started giving orders. "Sakura, protect Tazuna-san. Use your False Surroundings technique to try and hide better. Sasuke, you and the Demon Brothers will be occupying the thugs. Zabuza and I will deal with the two Hangenki Sankyodai."

Zabuza nodded his approval, and the group immediately split up to go about their assigned tasks. Sakura pulled Tazuna to the end of the bridge, against a pile of thick steel rods and barrels. Pushing Tazuna into a small gap, she crouched in front of him and ran through a string of handseals, finishing on the rat hand seal.

Focussing on the area in front of her, Sakura whispered, "**Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!**"

The area swirled for a few moments before all Tazuna could see was a wall of steel barrels in front of them. Sakura, being the caster, could see through the illusion to watch the bridge, in case someone got to close to their hiding spot.

The rest of the group charged forward, Zabuza towards the lanky brother and Kakashi to the musclier one. The pair distracted, Meizu, Gouzu and Sasuke ran past them to the throng of bandits who were running forward to assist their masters. Sasuke started a string of handseals, still running, whilst Meizu and Gouzu connected their shuriken chain.

"**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!**"

Sasuke didn't stop running as he cast the fire technique. Sasuke spat several balls of fire from his mouth towards the group, each one in a different direction in order to confuse and hopefully burn some of thugs. He was pleasantly surprised when the fireballs had their desired effect, forcing the thugs to scatter into smaller groups. Aiming at one of the groups, Sasuke quickly ran through several well practiced hand seals.

'**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu,**' Sasuke mentally chanted, bringing his hand up to his lips and making a semicircle with his fingers.

His chest expanded to twice its usual size before he blew all of his breath out at once, the chakra induced oxygen igniting once it passed his fingers. A giant fireball was sent hurtling towards the group of thugs he had aimed at, with a surprising amount of speed considering its size. The thugs didn't have a chance to move, glued to their place in fear, and the fireball ignited every last one of them, either killing them or giving them third degree burns. The ones that survived ran around the bridge like wild, causing further mayhem amongst the ranks of thugs.

Meizu and Gouzu were using a much different approach. Gouzu would throw Meizu into a group of bandits and then ran full circle around them, the shuriken chain cutting into anything that got in its path. Whilst Meizu was in the middle, he would also use a few of the water techniques he knew, like the _Suiton: Teppodama_, to knock around the thugs. When Gouzu finally reached his starting point, the pair pulled on their chain and Meizu got sprayed in a rain of blood, Gouzu being the lucky one of the pair on the outside.

Whilst the three dealt with the thugs, Zabuza and Kakashi were attempting to end their fights quickly so they could assist.

* * *

"What's your name?" Kakashi asked as he dodged a wide swing from the large man.

"Heh... Normally I wouldn't give it to someone like you, but since you are about to be executed, I'll indulge you. I am known as Hangenki Daiichi, the Giant of the Hidden Rock!"

Kakashi ducked under an elbow aimed at his head and attempted to sweep the missing-nin's legs from under him. To Kakashi's surprise and slight horror, his foot felt as if it had hit a chunk of steel. Using his opponent's leg as a board, he pushed away and slid along the bridge. Just in time too, as a huge fist come down and crushed the bridge where he had been a moment ago.

'_Shit, my foot is killing me! He's built like a brick wall! I may even need to my _Raikiri_!_'

Kakashi quickly hopped back up onto his feet and grabbed his forehead protector. "I can't take the risk of fighting without it, so you should feel honoured. But I warn you, every opponent I have faced has only ever seen this eye once!"

With that, Kakashi raised his forehead protector so it was actually covering his forehead, revealing the crimson eye of the Sharingan to Daiichi. The three black tomoe spun for a few seconds before Kakashi slipped a kunai from his thigh holster. It was time to get serious.

* * *

Zabuza growled in annoyance. The lanky triplet was doing nothing but dodging his attacks, a constant grin on his face and a slightly maniacal glint in his orange eyes.

"Damn it! Stand and fight!" Zabuza roared.

"Are you challenging me, fucker?" the man demanded.

The former assassin rolled his eyes, "Fine! Yes, I'm challenging you!"

"Alright!" the man crowed. "I, Hangenki Jiro of the Hangenki Sankyodai accept! You're gonna get a beat down, you mummy-faced fuck!"

Zabuza's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, and he lashed out with his sword once more. Jiro jumped in time to avoid it. The ex-Kiri ninja huffed in frustration when he sword cracked the bridge, but his eyebrows rose in shock when Jiro landed atop the blade.

The lanky man dashed up the length of the sword, his arms swinging wildly to his sides. Zabuza only noticed the glint of sunlight attached to his fingers as Jiro swung his arms forward, and jumped backwards with his sword. Zabuza narrowly avoided a bunch of steel wires that were attached to Jiro's fingers, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Fucker, get back here!" Jiro cried.

Jiro swung his arms again, the wires rearranging themselves midair before flying forward again with Jiro's arm movements. Zabuza's eyes widened when the wires tore up chunks of the cement bridge. Using his sword as a shield, Zabuza managed to avoid getting cut, but was forced even further back.

'_How the fuck is he doing that?' _Zabuza wondered.

Jiro's high pitched laugh cut through Zabuza's thoughts, and the man growled in frustration. He was going to have to resort to jutsu, but he wasn't sure if he could make the hand seals fast enough.

* * *

Naruto yawned and scratched his stomach, his eyes cracking open just a little to get accustomed to the sunlight. He felt two weights against him, the first atop his chest and the second pressed against his side.

He glanced toward his chest and was surprised to find the fox still there, sound asleep and making a whistling sound every time it breathed. Naruto grinned and turned his attention to the weight on his side, and found Haku pressed up against him, using his shoulder as a pillow.

'_Where did she come from? Not that I'm complaining though... I could get used to waking up to this.'_

The blond ran his fingers through Haku's long hair, chuckling to himself when he snuggled further into his neck. The fox woke up at the rumbling of Naruto's chest, and blinked a few times before licking Naruto's chin.

"Hey little guy... You stayed here all night, huh? Maybe I should name you or something if you're going to stick around."

The fox's eyes seemed to light up, and it yipped softly as if in approval. Naruto chuckled again, and tickled the fox behind his ear.

"You stayed here all night to protect me, so how about Shugo?" Naruto wondered to himself.

The fox yipped once again and this time moved so it could lick Naruto's face completely. Naruto snorted at the weird feeling and grinned at the happy fox.

"You like that, huh? Shugo it is then."

"Who is Shugo?" came a mumble from Naruto's neck.

Naruto grinned and looked down to Haku, who was slowly moving away from the crook between Naruto's neck and shoulder. The girl blinked at Naruto a few times, who continued to stare into Haku's chocolate brown eyes, his own cerulean orbs twinkling with suppressed laughter. Haku looked around a few times before finally gaining her bearings, and realized exactly where she was.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Naruto-kun!" Haku exclaimed, moving away as quickly as possible.

Naruto grinned ever wider, and shrugged in nonchalance. "Don't mind me. I'm just happy to know my shoulder makes a decent pillow."

Haku blushed and ducked her head, and Naruto finally burst out laughing. Haku smiled softly at the sound, having missed it for the past for days filled with tension and stress. Naruto moved to sit up, causing Shugo to tumble down into the blond's lap. Naruto chuckled and the fox barked in annoyance, before leaping up onto Naruto's shoulder.

"Anyway, Shugo is this little guy's name. He seems to want to stick around," Naruto explained, scratching the top of the fox's head, between his ears.

"I see," Haku said. "We should get back to the house; everyone is probably worried about you."

Naruto shrugged again but nodded in agreement. He took care not to jostle Shugo too much as he stood up, and the pair headed through the forest. As they walked, Naruto noticed several trees had cut marks along them. The closer they got, the more frequent these marks became until they came across a boar, cut to shreds.

"I've got a bad feeling about this... Haku, head to the bridge."

"Excuse me?"

"Go, hurry up! The triplets are attacking today!" Naruto exclaimed, breaking into a run towards Tazuna's house.

Haku's eyes widened before she followed Naruto's instructions. If he was right, then Naruto still needed to go back to get his sword, but Haku had all her equipment with her. Naruto, however, wasn't even thinking about his sword at the moment. Those cuts had been made coming towards the house, not going away from it. Tsunami and Inari were in trouble.

Naruto reached the house and felt two foreign chakra signatures within the house, and immediately made two clones. The trio lunged towards the door, but only the original went through, the other two staying against either side of the door.

Naruto came upon a scene he wished hadn't happened. Tsunami was being held by a pair of samurai, a shirtless one holding his katana against her throat. Inari, Tsunami's son, was screaming at the pair to let his mother go, but was standing stock still.

'_Damn!' _"Oi, pick on someone your own size!"

The two samurai turned around to see Naruto standing in the doorway, until he disappeared in a whirlwind and appeared in front of Inari.

"Ninja scum, huh? I'll take care of you!" proclaimed the one wearing a hooded jumper.

Naruto's voice came from behind the samurai, "Oh really?"

Before either had a chance to turn around, the clones came in from outside and knocked the pair out, making sure to disarm them as well in case the sword against Tsunami's throat slipped. Naruto sighed in relief and crouched down in front of Inari.

"Sorry I was late, but you did good, kid. You stalled them until I could get here," Naruto said, giving the boy a grin.

Inari sniffled and nodded before running around Naruto and latching onto his mother. Naruto nodded to his clones, which went back outside to stand guard. The original apologized to Tsunami and Inari, explaining he had to go and help out at the bridge but his clones would stay and act as body guards, in case some more thugs come around. Before he left, he made sure to securely tie up the two samurai, and had his clones use them as seats.

Taking to the trees, Naruto pushed himself to full speed.

'_Please be alright, everyone!'_

* * *

Kakashi leapt backwards onto his hands just in time to avoid a sweeping arm collide with his head. Jumping backwards again, he landed on his feet and channelled his chakra. The energy pushed him forward, leaving a line of afterimages as he dashed at Daiichi.

"That won't work, Hatake Kakashi!"

The giant of a man stomped his foot. The resulting tremor sent Kakashi flying face first towards the ground. Kakashi swore and slipped a few shuriken from his holster, throwing them at Daiichi. The missing-nin merely raised his arm, allowing the throwing stars to sink into his forearm. A chuckle later, Daiichi tensed his arm and the shuriken popped from his skin with a slurping noise.

"What the hell is this bastard made of!?" Kakashi whispered to himself.

The copy ninja attached an exploding tag to the end of a kunai and hurled it at the giant, knowing it would probably be ineffective. Sure enough, after the dust from the explosion settled, there was a huge crater around Daiichi, and other than his vest being burnt to nothingness, the man appeared unharmed.

"Hahaha! Keep wasting your chakra, Hatake! Nothing can beat my technique!" the man boasted.

'_Technique? What...?'_

Kakashi focussed his vision on the man, and was shocked that he didn't notice it sooner. The man was using a technique similar to Tsunade's strength enhancement or the Hyuuga Clan's _Kaiten_. Instead of releasing his chakra in sharp bursts to augment an attack, however, Daiichi was constantly pouring a layer of protective earth-based chakra which acted like a second skin. Whenever he was attack, he would focus more chakra into an area to enhance the defensive properties of the chakra.

'_How the hell did I not notice that? I am such an idiot!_' Kakashi berated himself.

"I see you finally noticed, not that it matters. Nothing can defeat my ultimate defence!"

"We'll see about that..."

Running forward again, Kakashi channelled some of his chakra down the length of his kunai, converting it to lightning. Slipping under a jab, Kakashi lunged forward with the lightning covered kunai and was pleased to find it cut through to the man's layer of earth chakra and into his stomach.

The man roared in pain and knocked Kakashi back with a wild swing. Kakashi felt a rib or two break, and gasped in pain when he landed on his back, the blood along the bridge making him slide to the guardrail.

"You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!"

Kakashi watched in slight shock as all the chakra that had once covered Daiichi's body was focussed into his right fist. Cocking his arm back, Daiichi bent forward and moved to punch the ground.

* * *

"Fucking hell! You fucking prick! Hold still!"

Jiro waved his hands up and down as if pantomiming a wave. Light travelling down the lengths of ninja wire attached to his fingers as they rocketed forward towards Zabuza. Said ninja brought his giant sword down along the wires just as the steel got close enough. It didn't cut through them, but it did hammer them into the ground.

"Let _go _you asshole!" Jiro screamed.

Zabuza smirked under his bandages and grabbed as many wires as he could, surprised that there was so many of them. Pulling them back towards him, Jiro was forced off his feet and landed face first against the cement bridge. Zabuza took up his _Kubikiri Houcho _and ran forward, the sword above his head.

Bringing it down to split open Jiro's skull, he forced back a select few curses when the lanky man rolled out of the way. Jiro jerked his arms backwards, making odd movements with his fingers. The wires fly up and came back towards Zabuza, curving as they flew through the air. Zabuza shifted his sword so it was protecting his front, but wasn't prepared for the wires wrapping around him several times, completely trapping him.

"I got you now, fucker!"

Jiro pulled all of his fingers back so they were curved slightly upwards, and the wires wrapped around Zabuza were pulled tight. The steel wires cut into Zabuza's back, legs, arms and neck, the front wires carving into Zabuza's sword. Jiro laughed maniacally and waved his arms forward before pulling them back again, the wires getting so tight that cut straight through Zabuza and his sword.

"Suck on that shit!"

A voice from behind Jiro made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

"It's over."

Jiro's neck was in the curve towards the end of the blade of Zabuza's _Kubikiri Houcho_, its wielder standing behind the lanky man with an almost bored look in his eyes. Jiro watched as the Zabuza caught in his wires fell into a puddle of water, the steel wrapped around him falling slack.

"That was a fucking water clone the entire time!? You have _got _to be fucking _kidding me_!"

Zabuza was about to fulfil his swords namesake and decapitate his opponent when the ground beneath him shook, sending Zabuza tumbling forward. Jiro fell as well, but used the opportunity to move out of the _Kubikiri Houcho_'s range.

Both men looked back to their respective partners and both swore; one in triumph and the other in defeat.

"Hatake, move!"

* * *

Kakashi stared at the oncoming giant hand of cement, earth and chakra with a mixture of awe and fear. He had never seen shape manipulation used to such an extent on an earth based technique. He went to move, but found himself trapped to his place by a pair of stone hands that had risen up from the ground and latched onto his ankles.

Kakashi heard Zabuza yell, "Hatake, move!"

'_I wish I could..._'

Kakashi braced himself for the impact of the hand, as he didn't have enough time to prepare any of his defensive techniques. He merely hoped that he could use his chakra to soften the blow enough that he wouldn't die from the attack.

"**Makyo Hyosho!**"

Three slabs of solid ice formed up in front of Kakashi, forming a shield from the oncoming attack. The giant hand of stone crashed into the ice mirrors, falling apart against the superior technique.

Haku appeared next to Kakashi and broke the stone hands that had been holding his ankles with a simple kick. In each hand she held four senbon, and she smiled softly towards the Konoha Jounin.

"Are you alright, Kakashi-san?" she asked.

"Y-yeah. Thanks."

Haku bowed her head in acknowledgment. "I think Naruto-kun would get upset with me if I were to let his sensei perish."

Kakashi shook his head in amusement. He was truly grateful to Haku for potentially saving his life. He watched as several more mirrors formed up around Daiichi, encasing him in a dome of the ice mirrors.

"Please excuse me," Haku said.

With that, she stepped into the ice mirror closest to her, and started to jump between mirrors so fast that appeared she was in all of them at once. Daiichi spun around, looking at all the images of Haku, and growled in anger. Haku giggled, causing Daiichi to grow angrier, and quickly found himself impaled by several of the senbon.

"This won't take long..." Haku trailed off when she saw Daiichi expel the senbon from his body by merely tensing his muscles, and frowned. "Okay, maybe it will take longer than I thought."

* * *

The forest blurred into a mass of green and brown as Naruto leapt from branch to branch, Shugo clinging tightly to his shoulder. Naruto blinked to try and lower the affect the wind had on his eyes, and found pink sakura petals dancing around him.

"What the...?" Naruto whispered.

"Hello again, Naruto-san... I have been looking forward to this meeting."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and Shugo was almost sent flying forward at the sudden stop. A feral growl rumbled in Naruto's chest, echoing throughout the now brightly lit field of cherry blossoms.

"Kisuke..."

A soft laugh came from all directions of the field. "Yes, Naruto-san... It is Kisuke."

Kisuke walked out from behind one of the sakura trees, the pink petals floating around him for a moment before fluttering away in the wind. He was dressed in the same robes from the night in the mansion, except now he had a rather long katana strapped to his waist, his arms draped lazily over the hilt.

"You look well rested, Naruto-san. That's good to see, I was beginning to worry that your restless nights would affect today's outcome," Kisuke said.

Naruto's eyes widened. "It was you I could feel watching me all this time! I knew I wasn't just paranoid."

Kisuke laughed again and started to walk forward once more, Naruto automatically taking an equal amount of steps back. Kisuke stopped and frowned slightly, as if hurt that Naruto was trying to escape him.

"Come now, Naruto-san. I'm not that terrifying, am I?"

Naruto swallowed and glared at him. "It's your eyes. Orange just isn't natural."

"Perhaps," Kisuke said, "but you have to admit, it is such a unique colour. It truly stands out against the drab colours associated with shinobi. In fact..." Kisuke held out his fist and thumb as if holding a painter's brush. "Yes, I think you would look good in orange; maybe a little black thrown in as well. Ah, I can see it now."

"You have more than a few screws loose in that head of yours, don't you?" Naruto said incredulously.

Kisuke shrugged and smiled once again. "It's highly likely. You don't live the life I have without losing at least some of your sanity."

Naruto growled again and looked around the field. It had to be a Genjutsu of some kind. Bringing his hands together in a quick combination of horse and tiger, Naruto shut his eyes tried to suppress his massive chakra reserves.

"Kai!"

He heard Kisuke laughing and opened his eyes to find himself still in the field of cherry blossom trees. Naruto frowned and reached over his shoulder, grabbing the red handle of his sword, the First Tsurugi. Swinging it from its place, Naruto dashed forward only to have Kisuke disappear in a whirlwind of sakura petals.

"Now, now, Naruto-san, I just want to talk. You are so very interesting, after all," Kisuke said.

Naruto turned around to see Kisuke standing where he himself was just a few seconds ago.

"Why am I so damn interesting!?" Naruto demanded.

"I think we both know the answer to that," Kisuke whispered, just loud enough for Naruto to hear, "Jinchuuriki."

Naruto stumbled backwards over his own feet, his eyes wide and pupils shaking. "W-what? How?"

Kisuke tapped his left temple and smiled at the blond. "I can sense chakra, Naruto-san. You resonate with two different sources of chakra. One is human enough, maybe a little tainted by the second source. That source, however, it practically screams 'Demonic.'"

Sweat trickled down Naruto's jaw and nose, his body refusing to listen to his mental commands to move. The field of cherry blossoms faded from Naruto's vision, and all the blond could see was Kisuke's face. Those glowing orange eyes and that calm, annoying smile haunting him.

'_Why! Why can't I move!? What the hell is wrong with me!?'_

All of a sudden, Naruto felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and the darkness shattered to reveal the forest. Naruto was suddenly gasping for breath his shoulders falling slack while he looked at the source of the pain.

Shugo was staring up at Naruto, his mouth open and tongue hanging out. Red blood dripped from his teeth, and Naruto saw the bite mark in his shirt and the blood seeping through.

"You really live up to your name. Thank you, Shugo," Naruto whispered.

"Well, that's annoying. I didn't even consider casting my genjutsu over the fox too..." Kisuke drawled.

Naruto's eyes turned back to the third Hangenki triplet, a confident smirk across his face. He lifted his sword and pointed it at Kisuke.

"You're mine now, bastard!"

xXxXx

**Jutsu List**

_Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu – Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique  
Katon: Housenka no Jutsu – Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique  
_

_Hiru Bansho no Jutsu – Leech All Creation Technique  
_The Village Hidden in The Grass's ultimate spying technique. It allows the user to merge with any substance as long as it isn't liquid, and travel for up to 10 miles before it gives out. Whilst merged, the user can also see and hear as if they were standing right in front of the object they are merged with.

_Hiru Bansho: Boka no Jutsu – Leech All Creation: Attack Prevention Technique_  
_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu – Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique  
Suiton: Teppodama – Water Release: Bullet Technique  
Makyo Hyosho – Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors  
__  
Doton: Kyojinte no Keibatsu no Jutsu – Earth Release: Giant Hand of Judgement Technique (Original Jutsu, as far as I'm aware)  
_This technique created a large hand of earth, using the surrounding area as a medium, which can either mimic the users hand movements or act as a simple wave of solid earth. Due to the jutsu slow movement, it also creates two smaller hands of earth that grab their opponent's legs if it is possible.

_Fuuton: Harigane Soujuu no Jutsu – Wind Release: Wire Manipulation Technique (Original Jutsu, as far as I'm aware)  
_The user runs chakra along lengths of steel wire and manipulates them in a similar manner to how a puppeteer operates his puppet. When combined with wind chakra, the wires also become razor sharp and can cut through nearly anything.

_Magen: Hanami no Jutsu – Demonic Illusion: Flower Viewing Technique (Original Jutsu, as far as I'm aware)  
_This genjutsu makes the user believe they are in a field of blooming cherry blossoms, the ground, sky and everything is all a soft white light instead of having any material. The user can appear and disappear anywhere within the field of Sakura, using the cherry blossom petals as a medium.

_Kokuangyo no Jutsu – Bringer-of-Darkness Technique_

**Terms**

Kusagakure – Village Hidden in the Grass  
Kitsune – Fox  
Hangenki Sankyodai – Half-life Triplets  
Tomoe – A comma-like spiral  
Shugo – Protection  
Kubikiri Houcho – Decapitating Carving Knife  
Sakura – Cherry Blossom  
Kai – Release

* * *

**AN: **And so the battle begins. I'd like to apologize; this chapter is shorter than usual so I will try to make the next chapter a bit more exciting and entertaining. Also, I want to thank everyone that has reviewed and hope you will continue to do so. Reviews are what keep me posting. ^^

Also, I added a Jutsu List and a Terms List in this chapter, and I think another one a couple of chapters ago. Please mention in your reviews if you would like me to continue with this every chapter or if you want me to leave it out.

Lord of the Land of Twilight


	12. Chapter Eight

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

* * *

**Chapter Eight  
**_The Creeping Limit_

* * *

**Previously  
**_  
Naruto's eyes turned back to the third Hangenki triplet, a confident smirk across his face. He lifted his sword and pointed it at Kisuke._

"_You're mine now, bastard!"_

* * *

"Naruto-san, do you honestly believe you can defeat me?" Kisuke asked, his tone condescending.

Naruto's smirk grew wider. "Arrogant bastards like you will always fall in the end. I'm going to make sure of it!"

No more words were said and Naruto pounced. The blond's chakra flared as his body compensated for the weight of his sword, and he swiped it forward with one hand. Kisuke slid backwards along his branch, avoiding the strike. Naruto continued through the slice, turning it into a spin and slashed again. Kisuke, not expecting the odd technique, had no time to dodge.

_Clang!_

Red and orange sparks were sent flying as the two swords collided. Naruto watched Kisuke's delicate eyebrow rise and found his smirk turning into a snarl. Kisuke lashed out at the Genin's knee with a simple kick, nothing too fancy. It was enough. Naruto's knee buckled from the attack, and suddenly he found himself kneeling before the white haired man.

"I'm aware that I'm your superior, but there is no need to kneel to me, Naruto-san," Kisuke said with a laugh.

"Bastard," Naruto growled.

The blond attempted to sweep Kisuke's legs out from under him, only for Kisuke to jump over his leg. Taking the advantage, Naruto pushed off from the ground and doubled back, putting some distance between himself and his opponent. Tossing his sword into the air, Naruto made a quick hand seal.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" he announced.

Two clones appeared on either side of him, and Naruto deftly caught his sword as it fell. Unclipping the Ryou Ken, he passed one of the two to either of his clones. The two clones shot forward first, pressing their speed advantage with the lighter weapons. Clash after clash, sparks went flying and neither of the clones managed to land a hit. One of the clones locked blades with Kisuke, and Naruto lunged forward.

Air could be seen being pushed around the sword as it stabbed forward. Kisuke caught it out of his peripherals at the last second and let go of his sword. Naruto watched as Kisuke landed atop his sword handle, and kicked off. The sword was sent forward and impaled Naruto's clone, leaving one of his Ryou Ken falling to the ground.

Naruto's remaining clone quickly snatched it up whilst the original moved to grab Kisuke's long katana. A white blur flashed through his line of sight, and Naruto had to blink to clear his vision. When he could see again, Kisuke was standing in front of him with his sword in hand. Naruto and his clone snarled, and pushed on with their attack.

Diagonal. Vertical. Horizontal. Not one of Naruto's attacks landed on Kisuke himself, all being parried by his sword or simply dodged entirely.

'_This is getting annoying!'_ Naruto mentally ranted.

Suddenly his clone disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Kisuke's long sword held where the doppelganger used to be. Naruto glared and hurled a few kunai at the man before running after them. Kisuke deflected the kunai with a practiced ease, and Naruto used the moment to grab his companion swords. Locking them back into place, he spun his sword and brought it back behind his head, taking a moment to gather his chakra.

"Try this!" Naruto yelled.

Swinging his sword back down, a jolt of blue chakra ran along the length of the blade. Just as the blade was pointing at the tip of Kisuke's head, a bluish-white arc of energy fired from the blade, and Naruto continued with the vertical slash.

The arc cut through the thick tree branches and let off a high pitched whistled as it raced towards Kisuke. Kisuke's white eyebrows shot up as the chakra was fired, not knowing the technique but recognizing the danger he was in. His offhand formed a quick seal and Kisuke disappeared, leaving a log in his place. The beam cut straight through the log, leaving the cross section of the plant life singed black.

Kisuke stared at the log and couldn't help but smile even wider. "That's quite the technique you have there, Naruto-san."

'_Damn it, I missed!' _"You think that's impressive? You ain't seen nothing yet!" Naruto declared.

"I was going to leave you to my brothers, but now I am so looking forward to seeing your other techniques."

Naruto huffed through his nose, and shot forward again, this time holding his sword with both hands. The two clashed, their swords making an 'x' between them. Kisuke leaned forward, the sparks lighting up his pale face.

"You were so kinds as to show me one of your sword techniques, so please, allow me to return the favour."

Kisuke placed his palm against the back of his long blade and pushed against it, sending Naruto stumbling backwards. Kisuke took a step back and brought his sword up to head height, drawing it back so the hilt was behind his head but the blade ran forward and pointed at Naruto.

"**Kaze no Issei**...!"

The white haired man pulled his sword around and back in a circle, drawing it up in a diagonal line aimed at Naruto. Bringing the long katana around, he made another upward diagonal cut making an x shape with no visible affect. The sword ended up pointed backwards, behind Kisuke, and the man had his head bowed, hiding a smirk.

Naruto frowned when nothing happened, wondering what the hell was going on, when he heard it. A soft, high pitched whistling, that would probably drive dogs insane. Just in front of him, several branches fell from the trees, each perfectly cut. Eyes widening, Naruto moved his giant sword in front of him. But it wasn't wide enough.

Four cuts appeared on the outside of Naruto's arms and legs, one on each limb. The wounds, whilst not fatal, were deep and blood spattered the tree behind him. Naruto bit his teeth together and forced back a scream. The cuts stung like nothing else.

"How do you like it, Naruto-san? The wind cries for me, and in return, I make my enemies cry!"

"In case you didn't notice," Naruto ground out, "I didn't cry!"

Kisuke let out a single laugh, never opening his mouth, and shot forward. Naruto eyes widened before they narrowed. Bringing the First Tsurugi around, he blocked the slash that was aimed for his head. He had barely enough time to shift the blade's angle to intercept a second attack. With each attack, Naruto could feel his energy draining and he was being pushed back along the thick branch.

A sharp pain seared up from his left shoulder and Naruto's eyes slowly trailed across to see the tip of Kisuke's katana buried into his shoulder, blood seeping out from the wound. Kisuke leant on his sword handle, pushing the blade deeper into Naruto's shoulder. A scream ripped its way out of Naruto when Kisuke twisted the sword.

Kisuke's smile slowly spread across his face. "There we go..."

Naruto bit his lip and jumped; drop kicking Kisuke in the stomach. Kisuke tumbled backwards, taking his sword with him. Blood sprayed from Naruto's shoulder and the blond started falling towards the forest floor.

* * *

Haku was quickly running out of chakra and senbon and the man inside her technique seemed to be taking no damage from her attacks. She shot out from one mirror, stabbed a senbon into the man's neck and quickly disappeared into another. To her disappointment the man just let the senbon fall to the ground; his neck had barely been scratched.

"Stop hiding!" Daiichi roared, punching one of the mirrors.

Haku felt her chakra fluctuate, compensating for the immense strength behind the punch. She was going to have to end this quickly. Naruto still hadn't arrived at the bridge, so something was definitely wrong.

"I'm sorry, but my chakra is reaching its limit. I have to finish this off."

Haku left her mirror, appearing on the outside of the dome. She looked across to see Zabuza cutting away at barely-there wires, whilst his opponent was getting gradually more frustrated. Moving back to her own attack, she drew in a deep breath and raised her arms.

The mirrors started to spin, the bottom row spinning clockwise and the middle spinning anti-clockwise. The top mirror didn't spin, but shifted its angle slightly. Haku motioned with her left hand and raised it skywards. Above the dome, directly in the sun's rays, appeared another mirror. The rays focused through the mirror as if it was a magnifying glass and an intense beam shot down to the top mirror of the dome.

The top mirror glowed bright yellow and several beams reflected down into the second row of mirrors, which in turn passed down to the third. With all three rows of mirrors spinning and glowing, Haku listened to the agonized screams of Daiichi within. Her mirrors weren't just focusing the suns light, but its heat as well. Combined with the gale-like winds trapped within the dome, it was a one hit kill technique.

Haku clenched her fists and the dome began to move in on itself, the gaps between the mirrors becoming non-existent.

"I'm sorry," Haku whispered.

She closed her eyes and brought her clenched fist to her heart. The screams inside the ball of bright light grew to blood-curdling points, before they disappeared completely. Haku unclenched her fist, and the ball of light disappeared in an instant, shattering and falling to the ground. In the centre of the shards of glowing ice was a pile of ashes.

Turning around to Kakashi, she dropped down beside him and began her bastardized version of the mystical palm jutsu she had tried to copy from an enemy ninja.

"Kakashi-san... I think Naruto-kun is in trouble..."

* * *

Zabuza watched the glowing ball of light shatter, and couldn't hold back the demonic grin that made its way across his face. Haku had ended her battle already, so it was time he ended his as well.

"Well, Hangenki, I think it's about time we ended this. You should feel honoured; I haven't faced a foe strong enough to make me release my full chakra in a long time."

Zabuza slammed _Kubikiri Houcho _into the ground, and pulled his hands up into a single, odd seal. It was nothing in the standard 12, and not even a modification on one of them. It was completely unique to Zabuza.

"**Gentai Fuuin: Kai!**" Zabuza declared.

Zabuza's temple, hidden by his slated forehead protector, started to glow. The glow died down, and several black lines trailed out from his temple before fading into nothingness. A dark yellow aura of chakra surrounded Zabuza and passed over to his sword when he took hold of it again. Zabuza grinned across at Jiro's who had gone slack at the pure pressure that Zabuza's chakra was putting out.

"I feel so free... It's been a long time since I felt like this. I suppose I best thank you before I kill you, for allowing me to feel this sensation again... Now die!"

Zabuza disappeared in a streak of yellow, appeared before Jiro in a matter of seconds. His sword curved forward, and Jiro quickly wrapped it in his wires. Zabuza smirked even wider and tensed his muscles, flaring his chakra. The yellow outline along his blade glowed bright white and the wires around it snapped with a _twang._

"Sorry, but you lose!"

Zabuza roared, bearing his sharpened teeth. Jiro saw the visage of a dark yellow oni appear around Zabuza, its greedy eyes staring hungrily at Jiro.

'_So this is the true Demon of the Hidden Mist. Well fuck...!'_

That was the last thought that Jiro ever had. Zabuza spun three hundred and sixty degrees, spraying a circle of blood as he went around. When he stopped, Jiro's head was balanced perfectly atop the blade of _Kubikiri Houcho, _its mouth open as if trying to swear one last time.

* * *

Naruto was hurting all over, the formerly sharp pain having become a burning sensation. Kisuke hadn't let up on his assault after Naruto had fallen to the forest floor. In fact, Kisuke had been juggling Naruto with extremely powerful cuts aimed at non-vital areas. Kisuke was staring at Naruto as he seemed to float in the air from the last attack, and sighed slightly.

"How disappointing... I may as well end this here."

Naruto spat a globule of blood at Kisuke, who was running his index and middle fingers along the length of his blade. The blood spattered Kisuke's face, marring his pale white skin with crimson red. Kisuke shot upward, the ground beneath where he had been crumbling in his wake. Naruto brought his sword around to block the first strike, but screamed out in pain with Kisuke's sword went straight through his sandal and foot. The blade continued on towards Naruto's chest, before Kisuke pulled it back and repeated the process on his other foot.

Kisuke continued to stab and cut Naruto. Somehow he was staying in the air, but Naruto could feel slight bursts of chakra every time he attacked. Naruto grunted in pain when Kisuke used him as a springboard to get above him, and his eyes widened in horror when he realized what was about to happen.

Kisuke voice whispered from behind him, "**Kaze no Issei!**"

Naruto tried to scream, but no sound came out; only blood. He had screamed so much that his throat was raw and bleeding. Not only that but now he was hurtling towards the ground, his shirt coming off him in tatters, and a stream of blood followed him back to earth. Naruto only just managed to keep a hold of his sword, his fingers shakily holding the red wrapping which had come undone in the last attack.

Naruto closed his eyes just before he hit the ground. The resounding _boom_ echoed throughout the entire forest. The amount of dust kicked up from the impact had obscured the crash site. Kisuke landed atop on the trees, sheathing his long sword as he watched the dust.

"You really were interesting, Naruto-san... It's a shame that all those I find interesting end up dying by my hand."

* * *

Face down against the ground, Naruto was barely alive.

'_Damn it! Is this it? After everything I've done, all those years spent training, is this truly my limit against a real ninja? Is my life really forfeit here?'_

Unbidden, Naruto's memories started flashing through his mind. '_Kenji tou-san... Haruhi kaa-chan... Miyamoto... Zabuza-sensei... Sarutobi-jiji... Haku-chan...'_

All of his precious people flooded his mind's eye, the happy and the sad moments of his time with them all. His new team came to mind, along with all the people he had met in Konoha. Playing shouji with Shikamaru, while Chouji watched on with interest and shared his snacks. Sparring with Kiba and Akamaru, or having rather intelligent conversations with Shino. Annoying the girls, Sakura and Ino, by annoying Sasuke.

Sarutobi teaching him to read as a mere baby. Playing in the fields with Miyamoto as a boy. Listening to Kenji's affectionate and warm praise whenever he did something right. Haruhi scolding Kenji whenever he pushed the boys too far. Zabuza giving him noogies before drilling him into the ground with training. Him and Haku, just talking.

'_Haku-chan... I'm sorry. Everyone, I'm so sorry!'_

"**Oh shut up with your damn pity party, brat!**"

Naruto's eyes shot open, his tears watering down the dirt that gathered in them. Time seemed to freeze around him, the dust that had been swirling stopped completely.

'_What the hell do you want?'_ Naruto demanded.

The Kyuubi's barking laughter echoed in his head. "**Exactly what you do... To live! I refuse to allow some weak little human be the end of me!**"

'_I guess there is a good side to my death. I'll take you with me...'_

Naruto felt a sharp pain in his skull, signifying the Kyuubi ramming its cage. "**Like hell! You need to remember, Naruto! You're not just some plain old brat! You're **_**my **_**container! My physical representation in your world! I will not have my reputation of being undefeated be stained by **_**your **_**mishaps!**

"**So you are going to take my power, whether you like or not, and fight! You are going to protect my reputation! You are going to defend my place as an unstoppable force of nature, as the Kyuubi no Jinchuuriki! You will not lose!**"

'_Shut up...'_

Time started again, and Naruto crawled to his knees, using his sword as a stand. "I don't give a damn about your reputation fox. But I will take your power. And you got one thing right..."

Naruto stood up to his full height, his shirt falling off completely, revealing a giant cross shaped wound along his back. Naruto grabbed his sword with his right hand, the cuts and gashes along his body smoking as red chakra seeped out of them.

Slitted red eyes snapped up towards the tree line, a confident smirk playing across Naruto's lips. "I won't lose!"

* * *

Kisuke was about to begin towards the bridge, when he felt it. It was like a single beat of a heart, but the pressure that came with it was enormous. Slowly turning around, he saw the dust cloud becoming unsettled.

Suddenly, the dust was sucked inwards, and expelled out in rings along the forest floor. Standing at the centre of the rings was Naruto. He was topless, revealing well toned muscles for a thirteen year old, and was covered in smatterings of blood here and there. Leaning over his shoulder was the massive, multi-blade broadsword. However, what truly had Kisuke worried was his eyes. The slitted red eyes of a demon.

Naruto's lips twisted into a confident smirk, and Kisuke suddenly found it hard to breath. The wind picked up in the area and tendrils of red chakra whipped around, cutting through branches like a hot knife through butter.

'_So this... is the power of a Jinchuuriki!'_

Suddenly the pressure disappeared, along with the tendrils of red chakra. Kisuke looked back towards Naruto, only to find a crater with diagonal scars in the ground coming from it. His head snapped up, and Naruto was floating in front of him.

'_So fast!'_

"You were right, Kisuke, this will end here. But not in the way you imagined." Naruto's voice was much deeper than it had been before, but it was still Naruto.

Naruto swung forward with his sword, the blade moving too quickly for Kisuke to block or dodge. The steel cut through Kisuke's robe and made a diagonal slash along his lily white chest. Crimson red blood stained his robe and splattered Naruto's face. Naruto knocked Kisuke off the top of the tree with a kick, and quickly followed.

This time when he struck, Kisuke had his sword out. The two clashed, and Naruto saw Kisuke's eyes widen. With a dark smirk, the blond pushed against the white haired man's sword and sent him rocketing towards the ground. Naruto disappeared in a flicker of light, reappearing behind Kisuke just before the man hit the ground.

Naruto jumped up and double kicked Kisuke straight in the back, sending him rocketing back into the sky. He disappeared again, reappearing right in front of Kisuke. He cut into Kisuke's right arm before quickly shift trajectory. This time he made a gash along his stomach. Naruto used his speed to move to Kisuke's side. Now he cut long his back and his arm, making Kisuke drop his sword.

Naruto flickered in and out of view, leaving a trail of red blood behind him whenever he attacked. Soon enough, Kisuke was covered in his own crimson life blood. Naruto made a fourteenth slash across Kisuke's chest, creating a cross shaped wound similar to the one on his own back. With that, Naruto appeared above Kisuke with his sword raised above his head.

"**Uzumaki Naruto Rendan: Omnislash!"**

Naruto's blade glowed dark red and he slammed it down into Kisuke's shoulder. As he swung, a dark red crescent of chakra came from Naruto's blade, slamming directly into the former Iwa ninja. The man was sent flying towards the earth, the red arc forcing him down with almost supersonic velocity.

The resulting shockwave was enough to knock Naruto back up into the air. After the shockwave, a massive mushroom cloud of dust rose up from the ground, traces of red and white throughout the light brown. Naruto flipped and fell back down to earth, landing with a heavy _thud._

He walked across through the dust cloud, which was gradually dispersing, until he almost fell into a rather deep crater. This crater was easily double the size of the one Naruto had created earlier, and a huge diagonal scar ran along its length. Naruto skidded down on the curving wall until it levelled out enough to walk. When he got to the middle, the dust had cleared entirely. In a small pocket crater of his own, Kisuke was laying face up, dead.

His formally white skin had been stained red, and his white hair now how crimson streaks in it. His left arm had been severed from his torso, but what made Naruto shiver in horror were Kisuke's eyes. His orange, ethereal eyes were staring blankly at Naruto, and the blond immediately felt sick. He dropped to his hands and knees, bile forced its way up his throat and he puked.

* * *

Kakashi was now standing, with some assistance from Haku, and the Demon Brothers were walking up the bridge towards the pair. In the arms of Meizu was the prone form of Sasuke, passed out and completely spent of his chakra. Sakura was also carefully making her way down the bridge, trying to avoid the bodies and blood that littered the once glorious bridge. Tazuna was at her side and looked like he was going to break down at any moment.

"Is everyone alright?" Kakashi asked.

He received a chorus of yes's from everyone, including Zabuza who still had Jiro's head on the flat of his sword.

"What about Naruto?"

Everyone looked around to Zabuza, who had asked the question, and then tried to find the blond. There was no sight of him anywhere, but they could see a massive mushroom cloud of dust slowly disappearing off in the distance.

"Damn!" Kakashi swore. "We need to get there, now!"

"I'm afraid that won't be happening, Konoha shinobi. It seems not only did the Triplets fail, but Zabuza turned coat as well. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you all now."

The group all turned towards the end of the bridge, where Gato was standing with another army of bandits and thugs behind him. The other group must have belonged entirely to the Hangenki Sankyodai. Most had fled, but not before Meizu, Gouzu and Sasuke killed quite a few of them. Kakashi sighed in annoyance, whilst Zabuza growled in hatred. The Brothers both gave a metallic chuckle, and Meizu handed Sasuke to Sakura.

"Take care of the kid. I think waking up his Sharingan really drained him."

Kakashi's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn't expected Sasuke to activate his Sharingan for a while yet. He would have to step up his team's training when they got back to the village. After all, if they came across another mission like this, it wouldn't do for Kakashi being the only one able to take on enemy ninja.

"Gato is mine, Hatake," Zabuza ground out as he stepped forward.

"Sure thing..." Kakashi replied.

With that, Zabuza flicked the head of Jiro up into the air and waited. As soon as it came back within range, he swung forward with the flat of his blade. The head was sent flying towards the army of thugs. Zabuza grinned widely when he heard a very high pitched squeal come from the big guy it had hit.

The Demon charged forward, the Brothers following him slightly behind on either side, making a triangular formation. Kakashi smiled and nodded at Haku, who let go of the Konoha Jounin. He then ran after the missing-nins, his fingers running through hand seals as he moved.

"Are you going with them, Haku?" Sakura asked.

The girl shook her head in response and kneeled down beside Sasuke and Tazuna. "I'm kind of low on chakra at the moment. I'll stay here and protect Tazuna-san with you."

Sakura nodded and focused her attention on Sasuke, trying to block out the screams that were coming from the end of the bridge. If this was what being a ninja meant, she wasn't really sure she was cut out for it.

* * *

Naruto had dragged himself out of Kisuke's crater and back into his own. His shirt and ninja mesh had been torn to shreds, but the steel of his forehead protector had survived, with a few tatters of cloth still clinging to it. He dropped to his knees and scraped it up, along with a handful of dirt and stones. Fatigue was beginning to catch up to him, now that the adrenaline rush had worn off.

A patch of black caught his interest, and he leaned forward to see the stone from his necklace had survived. He picked that up as well, and turned it over in his hand a few times. It hadn't even been scratched. A bark drew his attention away from the necklace to the fox that was now trotting down the side of the crater.

"Where did you get to, Shugo? Although I'm glad you got out of here. I wouldn't want you to be getting hurt now."

Shugo yipped once and pushed his nose against Naruto's cheek. Naruto chuckled and ran his fingers behind Shugo's left ear.

"I need to get to the bridge. Are you sticking around?" Naruto asked.

In reply the fox jumped up onto his shoulder and wrapped himself around Naruto's neck. Naruto laughed and slowly made his way back onto his feet. He didn't have any sealing scrolls on him, so he was going to have to carry the First Tsurugi to the bridge. As Naruto walked, he left a scar behind him from the tip of the blade being dragged along the ground.

* * *

"Seventeen!"

"Nineteen!"

"Both of you just shut up and get back to work!"

The Demon Brothers sighed but nodded anyway. "Yes, boss."

Zabuza shook his head and cut down yet another thug in the wall between him and Gato. "And besides, I'm on twenty-six."

The sword-wielding assassin noticed a gap in the wall and immediately shot forward, cutting through three more bandits on his way. Breaking through the wall, he smirked evilly at Gato, who screamed and fell backwards. Zabuza started forward, his sword hanging ominously over his shoulder.

"Get away from me!" Gato cried.

Zabuza took a few more steps forward and stopped short when Gato's look of fear turned into a smirk. Zabuza slowly turned around and saw one of the largest people he had ever seen in his life. Easily eight feet tall, the man was buff as all hell and carried a battle axe over his shoulder. Zabuza looked pointedly at the man, and sidestepped a swing that could have cleaved him in half.

He shook his head at the idiocy of the man and stepped forward, swinging his sword as he moved. The giant let out a cry of pain before he toppled to the ground, two stumps for legs spraying blood everywhere. His legs from the knee down were still standing where the man had been before, a fountain of blood spraying from either of them.

Zabuza looked over his shoulder and saw Gato running towards the end of the bridge.

Zabuza hefted his sword up behind him and growled, "Oh, no you don't!"

With that, he hurled his sword forward with all his might. _Kubikiri Houcho _was sent spinning forward, curving out before it started to come in again. As it reached the apex of its turn, it severed Gato's head clean from his shoulder, sending it spiralling into the air as the sword flew back to Zabuza. The assassin caught it with practiced ease and stalked forward towards the body.

Zabuza placed his left foot atop the severed head, which had landed before he got there, and grinned at Gato's army.

"You just killed our meal ticket!" "We're just gonna have to raid the village now!" "What about our money?" "We'll break into Gato's coffers!"

An arrow flew past Zabuza's head and stuck into the ground at one of the bandit's feet. The group of Konoha ninja and the ex-Kiri ninja looked back towards the village side of the bridge. Standing there was a throng of angry villagers, armed with pickaxes, crossbows, butcher's knives. Anything they could get their hands on. Kakashi grinned and made a couple shadow clones, all glaring menacingly at the group.

"Guys..." "Don't worry, we can take 'em on!" "They don't even have real weapons!"

The villager's broke into two, leaving a single space open between them, as a growl echoed from behind the crowd. Up the line walked a four foot nine demon, bathed in red blood. Its blond hair was soaked with patches of red, and hung over its shoulder was a giant sword with several crimson stains on its edge. Glowing red eyes shone from beneath its red fringe, three dark whiskers visible on either of his cheeks.

Hanging from its left hand was a steel headband, held up by tattered blue cloth and clawed fingers. Its right hand was hanging lazily over the handle of its sword, the clawed fingers flexing every now and then. Around its neck was a grey fox scarf, just it was still alive and growled at the bandits.

"Naruto-kun..." Haku whispered.

Naruto stopped beside Zabuza. Said ninja glanced down at the blond with feigned nonchalance.

"What happened to you?"

"Hangenki Kisuke..."

"And where is he now?"

"Dead."

"Good to know."

Naruto focused his attention to the bandits and snarled menacingly. The growl echoed from the back of his throat, and his voice sounded as if two people were speaking at once.

"**Leave now... Or I'll slaughter all of you!**"

"L-let's get out of here!" "I'm with you there!" "Over the bridge!"

The throng of bandits fled, some running past the ninja and others jumping over the side of the bridge. Once they were all gone, Naruto let go of his hold on Kyuubi's chakra, and felt his features return to normal. Dropping to the ground, he felt his eyes flutter for a moment. Kakashi was next to him in a second, helping his student remain upright.

"Are you ok, Naruto? No wounds?"

Naruto glanced at Kakashi with tired eyes. "Most of this blood is mine... but no wounds. I'm... sleepy..."

With that, Naruto passed out in Kakashi arms. His sword fell to the ground with a heavy clang, and the villagers cheered at their victory. Haku left Sakura and Tazuna, racing down the bridge with speed that rivalled Kakashi's. She skidded to a halt beside the Jounin and immediately started fussing over Naruto.

When she found no wound, she couldn't hold back her tears of relief. "Naruto-kun, you had me so worried... Please never make me worry like that again."

Naruto rolled over into Kakashi's chest and mumbled, "You got it, Haku-chan."

* * *

**Jutsu List**

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique_

_Naruto's Blade Beam (Haven't thought of a name yet)_  
_**(WARNING! Manga Spoiler!!!) **The technique used by the samurai in the Land of Iron. How he learnt it will be explained in later chapters._

Kaze no Issei – Cry of the Wind (Original Jutsu, as far as I'm aware)

_Using a sword as a medium, the user creates two diagonal blades of wind. Invisible to the naked eye, these blades emit an extremely high pitched whistling on a level that only beings with extremely sensitive hearing, dogs for example, can hear. The wind blades can cut through most anything, except for reinforced steel or something as strong. _

Haku's Advanced Ice Mirror Technique  
Haku creates a mirror above the dome and manipulates the density of the ice to turn it into a magnifying glass. She then uses it to pour the light and heat from the sun's rays into the mirrors of the dome, spinning the mirrors to create massive winds. The winds carry the heat and urn whoever is trapped inside to death, often to the point of cremation.

_  
Gentai Fuuin: Kai – Limit Seal: Release  
Originally developed as a training method in Kirigakure, the Limit Seal is a fuuinjutsu that limits the user's chakra, making them appear weaker than they truly are. When released, it gives the user a boost in chakra, also enhancing their strength and speed to a point._

_Uzumaki Naruto Rendan: Omnislash  
__Based off FF7's Cloud's attack; Omnislash delivers fourteen cuts followed by a fifteenth, being a downward slash with extreme power. Naruto uses it as part of his Uzumaki Naruto Rendan set of techniques, more of which will be shown in later chapters. He also adds his Blade Beam technique to the final slash._

* * *

**AN: **Another short chapter but its so action packed that I hope you forgive me for that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I really enjoyed writing it.

Quick explanation on Zabuza's yellow aura: In the manga Naruto describes his chakra as yellow and in the anime all chakra is blue. However, in this story everyone will have a different coloured chakra. Here is a quick list of the current main characters. A few of the main characters will change from arc to arc.

Naruto: Azure (Normal) – Crimson (Kyuubi)  
Sasuke: Midnight Blue  
Sakura: Bright Pink  
Kakashi: Bluish-White (Alice Blue)  
Zabuza: Dark Yellow  
Haku: Aquamarine  
Kenji: Jade

Cheers,  
Lord of the Land of Twilight... I may have to change that pen name some day.


	13. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Hello readers. First of all, I'd like to apologize to all who thought this was an update. Now then, on to business.

I find myself lacking inspiration lately and I am unable to write because of it. If I try to force something, it will come out all wrong and then you'll be disappointed with a sub-par chapter and I'll be disappointed with myself. So I am taking a leave of absence in order to refocus myself and attempt to draw in some inspiration. Normally when I shut my eyes, I can play out scenes in my head and then convert that into words. However, all that's coming lately is a big blur.

I'm sorry but I feel this is a necessary break.

James D. Wolfe


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